AI exposure: Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels
Command or supervise operations of ships and water vessels, such as tugboats and ferryboats. Required to hold license issued by U.S. Coast Guard.
Reading this score
computedAt 29.9% of weighted task load, Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels sits at the 53th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 50.9% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 1.78 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Consult maps, charts, weather reports, or navigation equipment to determine and direct ship..., at 93.3%. The least is Maintain boats or equipment on board, at 0.0%. A gap of 93.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within transportation and material moving occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 52 roles in the group is 24.2%, and only 16 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 11 are currently banded exposed, 8 assisted and 11 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.98 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.63 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.37 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.16 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.78 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.61 | 0-3 |
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consult maps, charts, weather reports, or navigation equipment to determine and direct ship movements. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 4.83 | exposed |
| Maintain records of daily activities, personnel reports, ship positions and movements, ports of call, weather and sea conditions, pollution control efforts, or cargo or passenger status. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Arrange for ships to be fueled, restocked with supplies, or repaired. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.09 | exposed |
| Direct courses and speeds of ships, based on specialized knowledge of local winds, weather, water depths, tides, currents, and hazards. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 5.00 | exposed |
| Calculate sightings of land, using electronic sounding devices and following contour lines on charts. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.21 | exposed |
| Purchase supplies or equipment. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.51 | exposed |
| Advise ships' masters on harbor rules and customs procedures. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Operate ship-to-shore radios to exchange information needed for ship operations. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.72 | exposed |
| Inspect vessels to ensure efficient and safe operation of vessels and equipment and conformance to regulations. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.58 | exposed |
| Read gauges to verify sufficient levels of hydraulic fluid, air pressure, or oxygen. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.57 | exposed |
| Report to appropriate authorities any violations of federal or state pilotage laws. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.49 | assisted |
| Interview and hire crew members. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 3.20 | assisted |
| Signal crew members or deckhands to rig tow lines, open or close gates or ramps, or pull guard chains across entries. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.34 | exposed |
| Direct or coordinate crew members or workers performing activities such as loading or unloading cargo, steering vessels, operating engines, or operating, maintaining, or repairing ship equipment. | 24.4% | 25.6% | 50.0% | 4.10 | assisted |
| Prevent ships under navigational control from engaging in unsafe operations. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.90 | assisted |
| Serve as a vessel's docking master upon arrival at a port or at a berth. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.87 | assisted |
| Assign watches or living quarters to crew members. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.54 | assisted |
| Measure depths of water, using depth-measuring equipment. | 20.0% | 5.0% | 75.0% | 4.38 | untouched |
| Supervise crews in cleaning or maintaining decks, superstructures, or bridges. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.53 | assisted |
| Conduct safety drills such as man overboard or fire drills. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Learn to operate new technology systems and procedures through instruction, simulators, or models. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Stand watches on vessels during specified periods while vessels are under way. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.64 | untouched |
| Perform various marine duties, such as checking for oil spills or other pollutants around ports or harbors or patrolling beaches. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.27 | untouched |
| Observe loading or unloading of cargo or equipment to ensure that handling and storage are performed according to specifications. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.24 | untouched |
| Steer and operate vessels, using radios, depth finders, radars, lights, buoys, or lighthouses. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.75 | untouched |
| Dock or undock vessels, sometimes maneuvering through narrow spaces, such as locks. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.70 | untouched |
| Tow and maneuver barges or signal tugboats to tow barges to destinations. | 2.9% | 9.6% | 87.5% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Provide assistance in maritime rescue operations. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.45 | untouched |
| Signal passing vessels, using whistles, flashing lights, flags, or radios. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Maintain boats or equipment on board, such as engines, winches, navigational systems, fire extinguishers, or life preservers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.34 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 1 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.