The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 33-3031.00 · Job Zone 3

AI exposure: Fish and Game Wardens

Patrol assigned area to prevent fish and game law violations. Investigate reports of damage to crops or property by wildlife. Compile biological data.

Reading this score

computed

At 15.3% of weighted task load, Fish and Game Wardens sits at the 24th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 69.3% 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 23 tasks it averages 2.07 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 Arrange for disposition of fish or game illegally taken or possessed, at 73.3%. The least is Participate in firefighting efforts, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% 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 protective service occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.9% across the group's 26 roles, with 19 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, 3 are currently banded exposed, 2 assisted and 18 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

judged

Every 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.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability1.110-4
Embodiment2.000-3
Presence1.910-3
Accountability1.540-3
Context2.070-3
Verification cost1.800-3

Task by task

23 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Arrange for disposition of fish or game illegally taken or possessed.73.3%26.7%0.0%3.91exposed
Provide advice or information to park or reserve visitors.66.7%33.3%0.0%4.07exposed
Address schools, civic groups, sporting clubs, or the media to disseminate information concerning wildlife conservation and regulations.66.7%33.3%0.0%3.60exposed
Issue licenses, permits, or other documentation.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.25assisted
Promote or provide hunter or trapper safety training.20.0%30.0%50.0%3.88assisted
Issue warnings or citations and file reports as necessary.16.2%21.2%62.5%4.26untouched
Collect and report information on populations or conditions of fish and wildlife in their habitats, availability of game food or cover, or suspected pollution.15.0%10.0%75.0%3.21untouched
Document the extent of crop, property, or habitat damage and make financial loss estimates or compensation recommendations.15.0%10.0%75.0%2.59untouched
Compile and present evidence for court actions.12.5%25.0%62.5%4.63untouched
Inspect commercial operations relating to fish or wildlife, recreation, or protected areas.10.0%15.0%75.0%3.40untouched
Investigate hunting accidents or reports of fish or game law violations.8.8%28.7%62.5%4.29untouched
Investigate crop, property, or habitat damage or destruction or instances of water pollution to determine causes and to advise property owners of preventive measures.6.7%18.3%75.0%3.12untouched
Provide assistance to other local law enforcement agencies as required.5.0%20.0%75.0%4.28untouched
Participate in search-and-rescue operations.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.77untouched
Protect and preserve native wildlife, plants, or ecosystems.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.47untouched
Patrol assigned areas by car, boat, airplane, horse, or on foot to enforce game, fish, or boating laws or to manage wildlife programs, lakes, or land.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.36untouched
Serve warrants and make arrests.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.95untouched
Seize equipment used in fish and game law violations.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.64untouched
Recommend revisions in hunting and trapping regulations or in animal management programs so that wildlife balances or habitats can be maintained.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.38untouched
Design or implement control measures to prevent or counteract damage caused by wildlife or people.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.31untouched
Perform facilities maintenance work, such as constructing or repairing structures or controlling weeds or pests.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.08untouched
Survey areas and compile figures of bag counts of hunters to determine the effectiveness of control measures.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.07untouched
Participate in firefighting efforts.0.0%0.0%100.0%2.16untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 3 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.