Will AI replace Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers?
No estimate. There is not enough agreement in the research to estimate this job: its tasks are rated as automatable on paper (much of the side work) but as not sped up by AI language models, so the two scales we combine disagree. Its tasks are below. How we estimate
O*NET-SOC 53-2011.00 · Transportation and Material Moving
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 14 of its 26 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Make announcements regarding flights, using public address systems.
- Record in log books information, such as flight times, distances flown, and fuel consumption.
- Brief crews about flight details, such as destinations, duties, and responsibilities.
- Check passenger and cargo distributions and fuel amounts to ensure that weight and balance specifications are met.
- Choose routes, altitudes, and speeds that will provide the fastest, safest, and smoothest flights.
- Confer with flight dispatchers and weather forecasters to keep abreast of flight conditions.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 6 of its 26 rated tasks; the first 5 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Inspect aircraft for defects and malfunctions, according to pre-flight checklists.
- Instruct other pilots and student pilots in aircraft operations and the principles of flight.
- Work as part of a flight team with other crew members, especially during takeoffs and landings.
- Conduct in-flight tests and evaluations at specified altitudes and in all types of weather to determine the receptivity and other characteristics of equipment and systems.
- Perform minor maintenance work, or arrange for major maintenance.
What the job is
Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo. Requires Federal Air Transport certificate and rating for specific aircraft type used. Includes regional, national, and international airline pilots and flight instructors of airline pilots.
Also called: Airline Captain, First Officer (FO), FO, Co-Pilot, Jet Pilot, Airline Pilot, Fighter Pilot, Airbus Captain.
Closest jobs we score by hand
In the same field (Transportation and Material Moving). Different jobs, each scored by a person.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate