Logging Equipment Operators
In short: today's best AI models could do about 2% 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 98% of the time, stays with people.
Drive logging tractor or wheeled vehicle equipped with one or more accessories, such as bulldozer blade, frontal shear, grapple, logging arch, cable winches, hoisting rack, or crane boom, to fell tree; to skid, load, unload, or stack logs; or to pull stumps or clear brush. Includes operating stand-alone logging machines, such as log chippers.
21,060 people do this job in the US. $49,740 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on1 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people39 h
Logging Equipment Operators, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 1 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 39 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Calculate total board feet, cordage, or other wood measurement units, using conversion tables (under an hour); Fill out required job or shift report forms (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.
- 2%
- 0%
- 98%
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, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.
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 9 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 96% of this job's working time as physical work. For 83% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 63% in a purpose-built cell, 20% in a structured facility. 1.04 of 3, the 100th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 4%
- No robot shown 13%
- In a purpose-built cell 63%
- In a structured facility 20%
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 . 9 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drive and maneuver tractors and tree harvesters to shear the tops off of trees, cut and limb the trees, and cut the logs into desired lengths.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, USNR LogPro merchandiser (scanning + bucking optimization line) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 18% | 1.3 h33 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Drive straight or articulated tractors equipped with accessories such as bulldozer blades, grapples, logging arches, cable winches, and crane booms to skid, load, unload, or stack logs, pull stumps, or clear brush.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ANDRITZ LogPorter log yard crane with Metris ANDI autonomous crane AI (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 17% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, ANDRITZ log yard crane with Metris ANDI Autonomous Crane AI (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 17% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Grade logs according to characteristics such as knot size and straightness, and according to established industry or company standards.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, MiCROTEC CT Log (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Drive tractors for building or repairing logging and skid roads.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, A4CSEL (Kajima) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Drive crawler or wheeled tractors to drag or transport logs from felling sites to log landing areas for processing and loading.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Kodama Autopilot / Weiler S340 'roboskidder' (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect equipment for safety prior to use, and perform necessary basic maintenance tasks.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Calculate total board feet, cordage, or other wood measurement units, using conversion tables.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 2% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Fill out required job or shift report forms.Done daily by most who do it. | 0.8% | 17 min8 min to 33 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.
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators3% now, 3% by 2028
- Continuous Mining Machine Operators0% now, 0% by 2028
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining5% now, 5% by 2028
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining10% now, 10% by 2028
- Hoist and Winch Operators0% now, 0% by 2028
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators1% now, 1% 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 Logging Equipment Operators is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 2% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 2% 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 Logging Equipment 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: Calculate total board feet, cordage, or other wood measurement units, using conversion tables (100% of the task's time now); and Fill out required job or shift report forms (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Logging Equipment Operators stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Drive and maneuver tractors and tree harvesters to shear the tops off of trees, cut and limb the trees, and cut the logs into desired lengths; Drive straight or articulated tractors equipped with accessories such as bulldozer blades, grapples, logging arches, cable winches, and crane booms to skid, load, unload, or stack logs, pull stumps, or clear brush; and Control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees. Together such tasks are about 98% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Logging Equipment 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 Logging Equipment Operators?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 96% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 83% of the working time, 20% in a structured facility. Its index is 1.04 of 3. One example: ANDRITZ log yard crane with Metris ANDI Autonomous Crane AI for "control hydraulic tractors equipped with tree clamps and booms to lift, swing, and bunch sheared trees". 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 9 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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