AI exposure: Riggers
Set up or repair rigging for construction projects, manufacturing plants, logging yards, ships and shipyards, or for the entertainment industry.
Reading this score
computedRiggers is among the least exposed occupations measured, at 7.8% of weighted task load, rank 832 of 923. 87.7% 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 14 tasks it averages 2.71 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 Select gear, at 55.0%. The least is Install ground rigging for yarding lines, attaching chokers to logs and to the lines, at 0.0%. A gap of 55.0% 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 38 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 14 tasks, 2 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 12 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 | 0.43 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.71 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.54 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.68 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.25 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.29 | 0-3 |
Task by task
14 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Select gear, such as cables, pulleys, and winches, according to load weights and sizes, facilities, and work schedules. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Signal or verbally direct workers engaged in hoisting and moving loads to ensure safety of workers and materials. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.60 | exposed |
| Test rigging to ensure safety and reliability. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.64 | untouched |
| Control movement of heavy equipment through narrow openings or confined spaces, using chainfalls, gin poles, gallows frames, and other equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.34 | untouched |
| Tilt, dip, and turn suspended loads to maneuver over, under, or around obstacles, using multi-point suspension techniques. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Dismantle and store rigging equipment after use. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Attach loads to rigging to provide support or prepare them for moving, using hand and power tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Manipulate rigging lines, hoists, and pulling gear to move or support materials, such as heavy equipment, ships, or theatrical sets. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.16 | untouched |
| Align, level, and anchor machinery. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.15 | untouched |
| Load machines onto trucks to prepare for transportation. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.01 | untouched |
| Attach pulleys and blocks to fixed overhead structures, such as beams, ceilings, and gin pole booms, using bolts and clamps. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.89 | untouched |
| Fabricate, set up, and repair rigging, supporting structures, hoists, and pulling gear, using hand and power tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.79 | untouched |
| Clean and dress machine surfaces and component parts. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.48 | untouched |
| Install ground rigging for yarding lines, attaching chokers to logs and to the lines. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.07 | 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.