Crane and Tower Operators
In short: today's best AI models could do about 8% 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 92% of the time, stays with people.
Operate mechanical boom and cable or tower and cable equipment to lift and move materials, machines, or products in many directions.
42,890 people do this job in the US. $68,080 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people37 h
Crane and Tower Operators, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload (about 3 h); Review daily work or delivery schedules to determine orders, sequences of deliveries, or special loading instructions (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.
- 8%
- 0%
- 92%
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, 8%. Today's estimate: 8%.
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 11 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 88% of this job's working time as physical work. For 81% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 70% in a purpose-built cell, 11% in a structured facility. 0.92 of 3, the 170th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 12%
- No robot shown 7%
- In a purpose-built cell 70%
- In a structured facility 11%
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 . 11 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inspect and adjust crane mechanisms or lifting accessories to prevent malfunctions or damage.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 18% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Load or unload bundles from trucks, or move containers to storage bins, using moving equipment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, JFE fully automated coil warehouse crane (JFE Logistics / JFE Electrical & Control Systems) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect cables or grappling devices for wear and install or replace cables, as needed.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Rope Vision (Huisman) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Move levers, depress foot pedals, or turn dials to operate cranes, cherry pickers, electromagnets, or other moving equipment for lifting, moving, or placing loads.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Morgan Automation autonomous coil yard cranes (CEPHAS system, Siemens drives/PLCs) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean, lubricate, and maintain mechanisms such as cables, pulleys, or grappling devices, making repairs, as necessary.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Liebherr central lubrication system (mobile cranes, LTM/LTC series) (Liebherr-Werk Ehingen) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect bundle packaging for conformance to regulations or customer requirements, and remove and batch packaging tickets.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Cognex label inspection / packaging inspection vision systems (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 29 min13 min to 58 min | Stays with people | |
| Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Inspect crane site conditions to determine ground stability.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Direct helpers engaged in placing blocking or outrigging under cranes.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Direct truck drivers backing vehicles into loading bays and cover, uncover, or secure loads for delivery.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Signode Robotic Destrapper (RCU) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Review daily work or delivery schedules to determine orders, sequences of deliveries, or special loading instructions.Done daily by most who do it. | 1% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now |
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.
- Hoist and Winch Operators0% now, 0% by 2028
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators1% now, 1% by 2028
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines6% now, 6% by 2028
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining10% now, 10% by 2028
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators3% now, 3% by 2028
- Riggers7% now, 7% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Other Specialty Trade Contractors9,950 people
- Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods (4232, 4233, 4235, 4236, 4237, and 4239 only)4,090 people
- Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing2,560 people
- Support Activities for Water Transportation2,190 people
- Rental and Leasing Services (5322, 5323, and 5324 only)1,760 people
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 Crane and Tower Operators is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 8% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 8% 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 Crane and Tower Operators 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: Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities to prevent overload (100% of the task's time now); and Review daily work or delivery schedules to determine orders, sequences of deliveries, or special loading instructions (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Crane and Tower Operators stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Inspect and adjust crane mechanisms or lifting accessories to prevent malfunctions or damage; Load or unload bundles from trucks, or move containers to storage bins, using moving equipment; and Inspect cables or grappling devices for wear and install or replace cables, as needed. Together such tasks are about 92% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Crane and Tower Operators?
- 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 Crane and Tower Operators?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 88% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 81% of the working time, 11% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.92 of 3. One example: JFE fully automated coil warehouse crane (JFE Logistics / JFE Electrical & Control Systems) for "load or unload bundles from trucks, or move containers to storage bins, using moving equipment". 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 11 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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