Will AI replace Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers?
Estimated risk score: 9 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 28).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 20 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 49-9052.00 · Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
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: 1 of its 20 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Compute impedance of wires from poles to houses to determine additional resistance needed for reducing signals to desired levels.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 19 of its 20 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Access specific areas to string lines, or install terminal boxes, auxiliary equipment, or appliances, using bucket trucks, climbing poles or ladders, or entering tunnels, trenches, or crawl spaces.
- Clean or maintain tools or test equipment.
- Dig trenches for underground wires or cables.
- Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduits running through trenches.
- Measure signal strength at utility poles, using electronic test equipment.
- Pull cable through ducts by hand or with winches.
What the job is
Install and repair telecommunications cable, including fiber optics.
Also called: Installation and Repair Technician (I and R Technician), Reel Man, Line Tester, Coax Splicer, Toll Lineman, Wire Splicer, Fiber Splicer, Block Cableman.
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