Fish and Game Wardens
In short: today's best AI models could do about 4% 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 7% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 93% of the time, stays with people.
Patrol assigned area to prevent fish and game law violations. Investigate reports of damage to crops or property by wildlife. Compile biological data.
5,770 people do this job in the US. $74,060 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on2 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet1 h
- Stays with people37 h
Fish and Game Wardens, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 2 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 1 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Recommend revisions in hunting and trapping regulations or in animal management programs so that wildlife balances or habitats can be maintained (about 2 h).
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.
- 7%
- 3%
- 90%
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, 1%. Today's estimate: 4%.
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
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 23 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0056% to 0.0093% (released February and March 2025); 0.002% to 0.0017% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0056% | 591 of 708 | 2 of 23 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0093% | 518 of 703 | 1 of 23 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.002% | 628 of 655 | 1 of 23 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0042% | 593 of 672 | 2 of 23 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0017% | 662 of 677 | 1 of 23 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 23 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 23 |
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 74% of this job's working time as physical work. For 9% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 5% in a purpose-built cell, 5% in any setting. 0.18 of 3, the 450th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 26%
- No robot shown 64%
- In a purpose-built cell 5%
- In any setting 5%
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 . 23 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrol assigned areas by car, boat, airplane, horse, or on foot to enforce game, fish, or boating laws or to manage wildlife programs, lakes, or land.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 36% | 5 h1.7 h to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Protect and preserve native wildlife, plants, or ecosystems.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 32% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Recommend revisions in hunting and trapping regulations or in animal management programs so that wildlife balances or habitats can be maintained.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | 61%Half by now | |
| Investigate hunting accidents or reports of fish or game law violations.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 4.2 h1.3 h to 2.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Compile and present evidence for court actions.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Design or implement control measures to prevent or counteract damage caused by wildlife or people.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Issue warnings or citations and file reports as necessary.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide assistance to other local law enforcement agencies as required.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Collect and report information on populations or conditions of fish and wildlife in their habitats, availability of game food or cover, or suspected pollution.Done yearly or less by most who do it.Robots: in any setting, Thermal-infrared survey drones (MassDOT Aeronautics / MA DCR deer density survey) (Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation with MassDOT Aeronautics Division) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Provide advice or information to park or reserve visitors.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform facilities maintenance work, such as constructing or repairing structures or controlling weeds or pests.Done more than monthly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Contractor agricultural spray drone (approx. 8-gal tank) used for prairie restoration herbicide application (Commercial drone application contractor) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 1.0% | 5 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Promote or provide hunter or trapper safety training.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 0.9% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 1 work day | 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.
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 Fish and Game Wardens is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 4% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 7% 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 Fish and Game Wardens 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: Recommend revisions in hunting and trapping regulations or in animal management programs so that wildlife balances or habitats can be maintained (61% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Issue licenses, permits, or other documentation (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Fish and Game Wardens stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Patrol assigned areas by car, boat, airplane, horse, or on foot to enforce game, fish, or boating laws or to manage wildlife programs, lakes, or land; Protect and preserve native wildlife, plants, or ecosystems; and Investigate hunting accidents or reports of fish or game law violations. Together such tasks are about 93% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Fish and Game Wardens?
- 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 Fish and Game Wardens?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 74% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 9% of the working time, 5% in any setting. Its index is 0.18 of 3. One example: Thermal-infrared survey drones (MassDOT Aeronautics / MA DCR deer density survey) for "collect and report information on populations or conditions of fish and wildlife in their habitats, availability of game food or cover, or suspected pollution". 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 23 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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