Craft and related trades workers · code 7541

Underwater divers

AI can plan the dive. Repairing a pier foundation in murky water is still a diver's job.

Gathering information about the dive and reporting on wrecks are mostly out of AI's reach. It barely touches ten of the twelve tasks, including clearing obstructions and collecting shellfish.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Underwater divers work under the surface of water, with or without the aid of underwater breathing apparatus, to inspect, install, repair and remove equipment and structures, conduct tests or experiments, rig explosives, photograph structures or marine life, collect various forms of aquatic life for commercial or research purposes, and find and recover missing items and persons. Tasks include - (a) taking safety precautions, such as monitoring dive lengths and depths, and registering with authorities before diving expeditions begin; (b) checking and maintaining diving equipment such as helmets, masks, air tanks, diving suits, harnesses and gauges; (c) descending into water with the aid of diver helpers, using scuba gear or diving suits; (d) working under water to lay and repair bridges, piers and harbour-wall foundations; (e) inspecting for suspected damage and making minor repairs to ships’ hulls and underwater installations; (f) reporting on the condition of wrecked ships; (g) removing underwater obstructions; (h) drilling holes for underwater blasting; (i) performing various underwater tasks connected with salvage work or recovering dead bodies; (j) gathering shellfish, sponges and other aquatic life forms; (j) communicating with workers on the surface while under water, using signal lines or telephones; (k) obtaining information about diving tasks and environmental conditions. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Oyster diver - Salvage frogman - Sponge diver - Underwater worker Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Subsistence diver - 6340

rescue diver
harvest diver
construction commercial diver

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

84 / 100

Strongly holds up against AI

Most of this job still needs an actual human. AI would mostly be making the tea.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

81 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 12 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 15.6 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 15.6 = 84.4.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 80 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Underwater divers 84

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

Dive planning and condition reports.
Inspection reports on wrecks and structures.
Equipment and safety logs.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

Working under water in poor visibility.
Repairs, salvage and rescue.
Staying safe in a dangerous environment.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

Working with underwater drones.
Offshore wind construction and maintenance.
Environmental survey work.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

30 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 61 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

80 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 56 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

80 How
hands-on

56 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, matched to one US job .

finger skill 50 · hand skill 44.6 · cramped spaces 71.8 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 36, against an average of 16. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

36
Obtaining information about diving tasks and environmental conditions.

Low
27
Reporting on condition of wrecked ships

Low
23
Communicating with workers on the surface while under water, using signal lines or telephones

Very Low
19
Taking safety precautions, such as monitoring dive lengths and depths, and registering with authorities before diving expeditions begin

Very Low
15
Checking and maintaining diving equipment such as helmets, masks, air tanks, diving suits, harnesses and gauges

Very Low
12
Working under water to lay and repair bridges, piers and harbour-wall foundations

Very Low
11
Drilling holes for underwater blasting

Very Low
10
Inspecting for suspected damage and making minor repairs to ships' hulls and underwater installations

Very Low
10
Performing various underwater tasks connected with salvage work or recovering dead bodies

Very Low
10
Descending into water with the aid of diver helpers, using scuba gear or diving suits

Very Low
8
Removing underwater obstructions

Very Low
7
Gathering shellfish, sponges and other aquatic life forms

Very Low

12 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you: 61
AI does it for you: 30

Sidekick wins, by 31 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 3999

So, should commercial divers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

No. The most exposed tasks are gathering information about the dive and reporting on wrecks, both Low; the work under water rates Very Low. Underwater drones handle some inspections, but repairs, salvage and rescue still need divers.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” family, averaging 84. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →