AI exposure: Geothermal Technicians
Perform technical activities at power plants or individual installations necessary for the generation of power from geothermal energy sources. Monitor and control operating activities at geothermal power generation facilities and perform maintenance and repairs as necessary. Install, test, and maintain residential and commercial geothermal heat pumps.
Reading this score
computedAt 22.9% of weighted task load, Geothermal Technicians sits at the 43th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 66.4% 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 embodiment. Across this occupation's 24 tasks it averages 2.29 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 Prepare and maintain logs, reports, or other documentation of work performed, at 73.3%. The least is Operate equipment, 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 installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 50 roles in the group is 12.8%, and only 8 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 24 tasks, 6 are currently banded exposed, 0 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
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 | 1.06 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.29 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.33 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.10 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.33 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.38 | 0-3 |
Task by task
24 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare and maintain logs, reports, or other documentation of work performed. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.31 | exposed |
| Collect and record data associated with operating geothermal power plants or well fields. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.24 | exposed |
| Determine whether emergency or auxiliary systems will be needed to keep properties heated or cooled in extreme weather conditions. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.87 | exposed |
| Identify equipment options, such as compressors, and make appropriate selections. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.64 | exposed |
| Determine the type of geothermal loop system most suitable to a specific property and its heating and cooling needs. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.35 | exposed |
| Design and lay out geothermal heat systems according to property characteristics, heating and cooling requirements, piping and equipment requirements, applicable regulations, or other factors. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.90 | exposed |
| Monitor and adjust operations of geothermal power plant equipment or systems. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.32 | untouched |
| Perform pre- and post-installation pressure, flow, and related tests of vertical and horizontal geothermal loop piping. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.75 | untouched |
| Adjust power production systems to meet load and distribution demands. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.51 | untouched |
| Test water sources for factors, such as flow volume and contaminant presence. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.63 | untouched |
| Identify and correct malfunctions of geothermal plant equipment, electrical systems, instrumentation, or controls. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Maintain, calibrate, or repair plant instrumentation, control, and electronic devices in geothermal plants. | 5.8% | 6.7% | 87.5% | 4.15 | untouched |
| Maintain electrical switchgear, process controls, transmitters, gauges, and control equipment in accordance with geothermal plant procedures. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Calculate heat loss and heat gain factors for residential properties to determine heating and cooling required by installed geothermal systems. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Install and maintain geothermal plant electrical protection equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Install and maintain geothermal system instrumentation or controls. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.87 | untouched |
| Prepare newly installed geothermal heat systems for operation by flushing, purging, or other actions. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.68 | untouched |
| Weld piping, such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) piping, using techniques such as butt, socket, side-wall, and electro-fusion welding. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.64 | untouched |
| Install, maintain, or repair ground or water source-coupled heat pumps to heat and cool residential or commercial building air or water. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.63 | untouched |
| Integrate hot water heater systems with geothermal heat exchange systems. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.61 | untouched |
| Dig trenches for system piping to appropriate depths and lay piping in trenches. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.17 | untouched |
| Apply coatings or operate systems to mitigate corrosion of geothermal plant equipment or structures. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.14 | untouched |
| Backfill piping trenches to protect pipes from damage. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.12 | untouched |
| Operate equipment, such as excavators, backhoes, rock hammers, trench compactors, pavement saws, grout mixers or pumps, geothermal loop reels, and coil tubing units (CTU). | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.06 | 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.