AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas?

Task-level automation exposure for Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas: 21 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

18% weighted task index

21 of 21 tasks scored

Median Salary

$67,890 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

12,600 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+0.8% employment change

1,100 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 26 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$37,700 – $85,470

Highest medians

Alaska $85,470

New Mexico $82,780

Colorado $79,830

Nebraska $79,140

Texas $77,840

Lowest medians

Arkansas $37,700

Kentucky $38,520

Louisiana $49,410

Michigan $54,020

Oklahoma $55,160

State figures come from the 47-5012 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 18%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 77%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 16%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 6%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 70/100 High

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

21 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 6%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 94%

20 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Emerging & rewritten tasks

Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.

New 08/2026 · Incumbent

Inspect safety equipment, such as harnesses, belts, and lifelines, before use.

Constituent Tasks

#8296 · Core · 28% automatable

Train crews, and introduce procedures to make drill work more safe and effective.

physical manipulation — Construction training requires hands-on demonstration and safety

Train construction or extraction personnel.

#8297 · Core · 10% automatable

Observe pressure gauge and move throttles and levers to control the speed of rotary tables, and to regulate pressure of tools at bottoms of boreholes.

physical manipulation — Drilling equipment operated by hand on site

Operate drilling equipment.

#8301 · Core · 80% automatable

Maintain records of footage drilled, location and nature of strata penetrated, materials and tools used, services rendered, and time required.

data analysis — Record operational or environmental data into logs

Record operational or environmental data.

#8299 · Core · 10% automatable

Push levers and brake pedals to control gasoline, diesel, electric, or steam draw works that lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells.

physical manipulation — Crane/hoist operation demands real-time physical control

Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.

#8300 · Core · 6% automatable

Connect sections of drill pipe, using hand tools and powered wrenches and tongs.

physical manipulation — Rig drilling equipment installation is heavy field work

Install drilling equipment.

#8298 · Core · 22% automatable

Count sections of drill rod to determine depths of boreholes.

physical manipulation — Physical site dimension measurement

Measure work site dimensions.

#8302 · Core · 15% automatable

Maintain and adjust machinery to ensure proper performance.

physical manipulation — Hands-on drilling equipment maintenance

Maintain drilling equipment.

#8306 · Core · 20% automatable

Direct rig crews in drilling and other activities, such as setting up rigs and completing or servicing wells.

interpersonal — Directing crews in the field is human leadership work

Direct construction or extraction personnel.

#8305 · Core · 18% automatable

Weigh clay, and mix with water and chemicals to make drilling mud.

physical manipulation — Physical measurement for assembly fitting

Measure materials or objects for installation or assembly. Mix substances or compounds needed for work activities.

#8303 · Core · 17% automatable

Start and examine operation of slush pumps to ensure circulation and consistency of drilling fluid or mud in well.

visual inspection — Construction equipment inspection is physical, hands-on

Inspect equipment or tools to be used in construction or excavation. Operate pumps or compressors.

#8309 · Core · 13% automatable

Clean and oil pulleys, blocks, and cables.

physical manipulation — Hands-on drilling equipment maintenance

Clean equipment or facilities. Maintain drilling equipment.

#8307 · Core · 28% automatable

Monitor progress of drilling operations, and select and change drill bits according to the nature of strata, using hand tools.

decision support — Construction equipment selection needs site and safety judgment

Monitor extraction operations. Select construction equipment. Install equipment attachments or components.

#8308 · Core · 15% automatable

Repair or replace defective parts of machinery, such as rotary drill rigs, water trucks, air compressors, and pumps, using hand tools.

physical manipulation — Hands-on drilling equipment maintenance

Maintain drilling equipment.

#8304 · Core · 10% automatable

Locate and recover lost or broken bits, casings, and drill pipes from wells, using special tools.

physical manipulation — Crane/hoist operation demands real-time physical control

Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.

#8313 · Core · 4% automatable

Line drilled holes with pipes, and install all necessary hardware, to prepare new wells.

physical manipulation — Hands-on plumbing in structures

Install plumbing or piping.

#8312 · Core · 10% automatable

Cap wells with packers, or turn valves, to regulate outflow of oil from wells.

physical manipulation — Drilling equipment operated by hand on site

Operate drilling equipment.

#8311 · Core · 5% automatable

Remove core samples during drilling to determine the nature of the strata being drilled.

physical manipulation — Physical extraction of geological samples

Collect geological samples.

#8310 · Core · 5% automatable

Bolt together pump and engine parts, and connect tanks and flow lines.

physical manipulation — Physical assembly of products by hand

Assemble products or production equipment.

#8315 · Supplemental · 6% automatable

Plug observation wells, and restore sites.

physical manipulation — Site preparation, heavy physical work

Prepare excavation or extraction sites for commissioning or decommissioning.

#8314 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Position and prepare truck-mounted derricks at drilling areas specified on field maps.

physical manipulation — Hands-on positioning of heavy construction equipment

Position construction or extraction equipment.

#8316 · Supplemental · 6% automatable

Lower and explode charges in boreholes to start flow of oil from wells.

physical manipulation — Hands-on positioning of heavy construction equipment

Prepare explosives for detonation. Prepare excavation or extraction sites for commissioning or decommissioning. Position construction or extraction equipment. Operate detonation equipment.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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