AI exposure: Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
Install or repair cables or wires used in electrical power or distribution systems. May erect poles and light or heavy duty transmission towers.
Reading this score
computedElectrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 5.1% of weighted task load, rank 872 of 923. 89.0% of this job is work current AI systems cannot produce at all. That is not a statement about skill or value. It is a statement about what these systems can and cannot do.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 23 tasks it averages 2.91 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Coordinate work assignment preparation and completion with other workers, at 50.0%. The least is Clean, tin, and splice corresponding conductors by twisting ends together or by joining ends..., at 0.0%. A gap of 50.0% 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 installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 13.8% across the group's 50 roles, with 43 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 23 tasks, 1 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 22 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 | 0.39 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.91 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.59 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.96 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.17 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.39 | 0-3 |
Task by task
23 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coordinate work assignment preparation and completion with other workers. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.46 | exposed |
| Open switches or attach grounding devices to remove electrical hazards from disturbed or fallen lines or to facilitate repairs. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.70 | untouched |
| Test conductors, according to electrical diagrams and specifications, to identify corresponding conductors and to prevent incorrect connections. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.14 | untouched |
| Inspect and test power lines and auxiliary equipment to locate and identify problems, using reading and testing instruments. | 9.2% | 15.8% | 75.0% | 4.50 | untouched |
| Drive vehicles equipped with tools and materials to job sites. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.75 | untouched |
| Identify defective sectionalizing devices, circuit breakers, fuses, voltage regulators, transformers, switches, relays, or wiring, using wiring diagrams and electrical-testing instruments. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Adhere to safety practices and procedures, such as checking equipment regularly and erecting barriers around work areas. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.77 | untouched |
| Climb poles or use truck-mounted buckets to access equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.55 | untouched |
| Install, maintain, and repair electrical distribution and transmission systems, including conduits, cables, wires, and related equipment, such as transformers, circuit breakers, and switches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.51 | untouched |
| Replace or straighten damaged poles. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.44 | untouched |
| String wire conductors and cables between poles, towers, trenches, pylons, and buildings, setting lines in place and using winches to adjust tension. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.43 | untouched |
| Attach cross-arms, insulators, and auxiliary equipment to poles prior to installing them. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Dig holes, using augers, and set poles, using cranes and power equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.35 | untouched |
| Travel in trucks, helicopters, and airplanes to inspect lines for freedom from obstruction and adequacy of insulation. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.29 | untouched |
| Install watt-hour meters and connect service drops between power lines and consumers' facilities. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Place insulating or fireproofing materials over conductors and joints. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Splice or solder cables together or to overhead transmission lines, customer service lines, or street light lines, using hand tools, epoxies, or specialized equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Trim trees that could be hazardous to the functioning of cables or wires. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.85 | untouched |
| Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.75 | untouched |
| Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduit running through the trenches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.36 | untouched |
| Cut trenches for laying underground cables, using trenchers and cable plows. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.29 | untouched |
| Cut and peel lead sheathing and insulation from defective or newly installed cables and conduits prior to splicing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.16 | untouched |
| Clean, tin, and splice corresponding conductors by twisting ends together or by joining ends with metal clamps and soldering connections. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.77 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
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.