Marine Engineers and Naval Architects
In short: today's best AI models could do about 17% 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 58% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 30% of the time, stays with people.
Design, develop, and evaluate the operation of marine vessels, ship machinery, and related equipment, such as power supply and propulsion systems.
8,250 people do this job in the US. $112,230 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on7 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet21 h
- Stays with people12 h
Marine Engineers and Naval Architects, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 7 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 21 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 12 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare technical reports for use by engineering, management, or sales personnel (about 1 h); Act as liaisons between ships' captains and shore personnel to ensure that schedules and budgets are maintained, and that ships are operated safely and efficiently (under an hour); Study design proposals and specifications to establish basic characteristics of craft, such as size, weight, speed, propulsion, displacement, and draft (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.
- 70%
- 4%
- 25%
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, 3%. Today's estimate: 17%.
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, 0.011% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 386th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 30 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.032% to 0.032% (released February and March 2025); 0.031% to 0.016% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.011% to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.032% | 351 of 708 | 5 of 30 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.032% | 347 of 703 | 6 of 30 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.031% | 302 of 655 | 4 of 30 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.019% | 392 of 672 | 4 of 30 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.016% | 426 of 677 | 3 of 30 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 369 of 434 | 1 of 30 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 386 of 447 | 1 of 30 |
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 8% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 92%
- No robot shown 8%
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 . 30 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design complete hull and superstructure according to specifications and test data, in conformity with standards of safety, efficiency, and economy.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 13% | 4.2 work weeks4.2 work days to 3.2 work months | 0%Half by May 2029 | |
| Conduct analytical, environmental, operational, or performance studies to develop designs for products, such as marine engines, equipment, and structures.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 12% | 4.2 work days1.7 work days to 3.3 work weeks | 7%Half by Nov 2027 | |
| Design layout of craft interior, including cargo space, passenger compartments, ladder wells, and elevators.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 11% | 4.2 work days1 work day to 3.3 work weeks | 6%Half by Feb 2028 | |
| Conduct analyses of ships, such as stability, structural, weight, and vibration analyses.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 7% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 2.1 work weeks | 20%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Establish arrangement of boiler room equipment and propulsion machinery, heating and ventilating systems, refrigeration equipment, piping, and other functional equipment.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 1 work week1 work day to 3.3 work weeks | 4%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Prepare plans, estimates, design and construction schedules, and contract specifications, including any special provisions.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 23%Half by May 2027 | |
| Oversee construction and testing of prototype in model basin and develop sectional and waterline curves of hull to establish center of gravity, ideal hull form, and buoyancy and stability data.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 work weeks3.1 work days to 2.5 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Prepare, or direct the preparation of, product or system layouts and detailed drawings and schematics.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | Stays with people | |
| Prepare technical reports for use by engineering, management, or sales personnel.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.1 work days | 76%Half by now | |
| Design and oversee testing, installation, and repair of marine apparatus and equipment.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.1 work days5 h to 2.1 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Study design proposals and specifications to establish basic characteristics of craft, such as size, weight, speed, propulsion, displacement, and draft.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 3.1 work days | 72%Half by now | |
| Evaluate performance of craft during dock and sea trials to determine design changes and conformance with national and international standards.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.3 work weeks | 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.
- Ship Engineers10% now, 10% by 2028
- Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians10% now, 21% by 2028
- Aerospace Engineers38% now, 78% by 2028
- Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians35% now, 53% by 2028
- Mechanical Engineers23% now, 70% by 2028
- Industrial Engineers60% now, 86% 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 Marine Engineers and Naval Architects is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 17% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 58% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (40% to 67% across the three paces the site shows). 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 Marine Engineers and Naval Architects 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: Prepare technical reports for use by engineering, management, or sales personnel (76% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Act as liaisons between ships' captains and shore personnel to ensure that schedules and budgets are maintained, and that ships are operated safely and efficiently (96% of the task's time now); and Study design proposals and specifications to establish basic characteristics of craft, such as size, weight, speed, propulsion, displacement, and draft (72% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Oversee construction and testing of prototype in model basin and develop sectional and waterline curves of hull to establish center of gravity, ideal hull form, and buoyancy and stability data; Prepare, or direct the preparation of, product or system layouts and detailed drawings and schematics; and Design and oversee testing, installation, and repair of marine apparatus and equipment. Together such tasks are about 30% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks, the 386th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 30 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 4%. 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 Marine Engineers and Naval Architects?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 8% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. 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 30 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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