Bailiffs
In short: today's best AI models could do about 9% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 91% of the time, stays with people.
Maintain order in courts of law.
17,310 people do this job in the US. $56,600 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on4 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people36 h
Bailiffs, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 4 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 36 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Maintain court docket (about 3 h); Provide assistance to the public, such as directions to court offices (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 9%
- 0%
- 91%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 7%. Today's estimate: 9%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 15 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 87% of this job's working time as physical work. For 24% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 11% in a purpose-built cell, 13% in a structured facility. 0.37 of 3, the 359th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 13%
- No robot shown 63%
- In a purpose-built cell 11%
- In a structured facility 13%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 15 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Escort prisoners to and from courthouse and maintain custody of prisoners during court proceedings.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 22% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain order in courtroom during trial and guard jury from outside contact.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 21% | 3.3 h50 min to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Provide security by patrolling interior and exterior of courthouse and escorting judges and other court employees.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Cobalt Security Robot (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Guard lodging of sequestered jury.Done yearly or less by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Screen persons entering courthouse using magnetometers, x-ray machines, and other devices to collect and retain unauthorized firearms and other contraband.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain court docket.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 50 min13 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Enforce courtroom rules of behavior and warn persons not to smoke or disturb court procedure.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Provide jury escort to restaurant and other areas outside of courtroom to prevent jury contact with public.Done yearly or less by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Check courtroom for security and cleanliness and assure availability of sundry supplies, such as notepads, for use by judge, jurors, and attorneys.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Cobalt Security Robot (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 25 min8 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Screen, control, and handle evidence and exhibits during court proceedings.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RightPick (RightHand Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 50 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide assistance to the public, such as directions to court offices.Done daily by most who do it. | 1% | 4 min2 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Arrest persons in court when arrest warrants have been issued.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 0.9% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers13% now, 14% by 2028
- Correctional Officers and Jailers17% now, 18% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives44% now, 53% by 2028
- Detectives and Criminal Investigators69% now, 74% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers28% now, 29% by 2028
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists34% now, 37% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Bailiffs is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 9% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 9% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Bailiffs come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Maintain court docket (100% of the task's time now); and Provide assistance to the public, such as directions to court offices (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Bailiffs stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Escort prisoners to and from courthouse and maintain custody of prisoners during court proceedings; Maintain order in courtroom during trial and guard jury from outside contact; and Provide security by patrolling interior and exterior of courthouse and escorting judges and other court employees. Together such tasks are about 91% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Bailiffs?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Bailiffs?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 87% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 24% of the working time, 13% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.37 of 3. One example: Cobalt Security Robot for "provide security by patrolling interior and exterior of courthouse and escorting judges and other court employees". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 15 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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