Will AI replace Pipelayers?
Estimated risk score: 12 out of 100
Very low replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (0 to 31).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 14 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 47-2151.00 · Construction and Extraction
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: 0 of its 14 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
None of its rated tasks.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 13 of its 14 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Align and position pipes to prepare them for welding or sealing.
- Connect pipe pieces and seal joints, using welding equipment, cement, or glue.
- Cover pipes with earth or other materials.
- Cut pipes to required lengths.
- Dig trenches to desired or required depths, by hand or using trenching tools.
- Grade or level trench bases, using tamping machines or hand tools.
What the job is
Lay pipe for storm or sanitation sewers, drains, and water mains. Perform any combination of the following tasks: grade trenches or culverts, position pipe, or seal joints.
Also called: Tailman, Pipe Layer, Pipe Liner, Drain Layer, Drain Tiler, Pipe Setter, Sewer Layer, Pipe Caulker.
Closest jobs we score by hand
In the same field (Construction and Extraction). 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