Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
In short: today's best AI models could do about 14% 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 86% of the time, stays with people.
Operate a variety of drills such as rotary, churn, and pneumatic to tap subsurface water and salt deposits, to remove core samples during mineral exploration or soil testing, and to facilitate the use of explosives in mining or construction. Includes horizontal and earth boring machine operators.
19,450 people do this job in the US. $60,190 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on6 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people34 h
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 6 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 34 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Create and lay out designs for drill and blast patterns (about 2 h); Record drilling progress and geological data (about 1 h); Document geological formations encountered during work (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.
- 14%
- 0%
- 86%
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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 10%. Today's estimate: 14%.
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 29 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 86% of this job's working time as physical work. For 72% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 27% in a purpose-built cell, 45% in a structured facility. 1.17 of 3, the 62nd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 14%
- No robot shown 14%
- In a purpose-built cell 27%
- In a structured facility 45%
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 . 29 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operate water-well drilling rigs and other equipment to drill, bore, and dig for water wells or for environmental assessment purposes.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Nabors PACE-R801 with Canrig robotics and SmartDRILL/SmartSLIDE (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 18% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Drill or bore holes in rock for blasting, grouting, anchoring, or building foundations.Done yearly or less by most who do it.Robots: in a structured facility, Sandvik AutoMine Surface Drilling AutoCycle (DR416i, Leopard DI650i) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Start, stop, and control drilling speed of machines and insertion of casings into holes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Nabors PACE-R801 fully automated land rig (Smart Suite + Canrig robotics) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Regulate air pressure, rotary speed, and downward pressure, according to the type of rock or concrete being drilled.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Cat MineStar Command for drilling (MD6250, MD6310 surface drills) (Caterpillar / Thiess / WesTrac) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Select and attach drill bits and drill rods, adding more rods as hole depths increase, and changing drill bits as needed.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Epiroc Automatic Bit Changer (ABC) on Pit Viper 270/290 blasthole drills (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Create and lay out designs for drill and blast patterns.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a structured facility, Epiroc Hole Navigation System (HNS) on SmartROC/Pit Viper surface rigs (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.1 h50 min to 5 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Perform pumping tests to assess well performance.Done more than monthly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Optimized (feedback-controlled) aquifer-test pumping system (Young, Rasmussen, Lyons & Pennell), field-tested at the Savannah River Site (University of Georgia / Savannah River Site researchers, published in Ground Water) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Operate machines to flush earth cuttings or to blow dust from holes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Epiroc SmartROC D65 MKII (autonomous surface DTH drill) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Assemble and position machines, augers, casing pipes, and other equipment, using hand and power tools.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Epiroc SmartROC D65 MKII (fully autonomous surface drill rig) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.1 h33 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform routine maintenance and upgrade work on machines and equipment, such as replacing parts, building up drill bits, and lubricating machinery.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Pour water into wells, or pump water or slush into wells to cool drill bits and to remove drillings.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Halliburton LOGIX / Sekal DrillTronics automated on-bottom drilling system (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate controls to stabilize machines and to position and align drills.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Epiroc SmartROC D65 MKII (autonomous surface drill rig) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 25 min8 min to 42 min | 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.
- Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas5% now, 5% by 2028
- Helpers--Extraction Workers0% now, 0% by 2028
- Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic12% now, 12% by 2028
- Continuous Mining Machine Operators0% now, 0% 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
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 Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 14% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 14% 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 Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 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: Create and lay out designs for drill and blast patterns (99% of the task's time now); Record drilling progress and geological data (100% of the task's time now); and Document geological formations encountered during work (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Operate water-well drilling rigs and other equipment to drill, bore, and dig for water wells or for environmental assessment purposes; Drill or bore holes in rock for blasting, grouting, anchoring, or building foundations; and Start, stop, and control drilling speed of machines and insertion of casings into holes. Together such tasks are about 86% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas?
- 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 Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 86% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 72% of the working time, 45% in a structured facility. Its index is 1.17 of 3. One example: Sandvik AutoMine Surface Drilling AutoCycle (DR416i, Leopard DI650i) for "drill or bore holes in rock for blasting, grouting, anchoring, or building foundations". 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 29 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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