Plant and machine operators, and assemblers · code 8113

Well drillers and borers and related workers

AI can write the drilling report. It can't hear a pump starting to fail over the noise of a rig.

Keeping drilling and servicing records is the one task AI could take a fair chunk of. Moving and assembling rigs and sealing old wells it barely touches.

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

Well drillers and borers and related workers position, assemble and operate drilling machinery and related equipment to sink wells, extract rock samples, liquids and gases, or for a variety of other purposes. Tasks include - (a) dismantling, moving and assembling drilling rigs and auxiliary equipment; (b) assembling and dismantling pipes, casings and drill heads, and replacing dysfunctional equipment; (c) operating controls to lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells, regulate pressure in the well and control the speed of tools; (d) preparing drilling fluid and checking the operation of pumps to ensure adequate circulation of fluid in drill pipes and wells; (e) monitoring gauges and other indicators, listening to equipment to detect malfunctions and unusual well conditions, and determining the need to change drilling or equipment; (f) maintaining, adjusting, repairing and cleaning drilling rigs, hoisting and other machinery; (g) maintaining records of drilling and servicing operations; (h) operating machines and tools to extract dust, cuttings and lost and broken drilling equipment from holes and wells; (i) closing and sealing wells no longer in use; (j) supervising and train crew members. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Bore sinker - Boring equipment operator - Derrickman - Derrick operator - Developmental driller - Directional driller - Driller (oil or gas well) - Drilling plant operator - Drilling rig operator - Power-tong operator - Toolpusher - Tourpusher Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Blaster - 7542 - Miner - 8111 - Quarrier - 8111

drill operator
tool pusher
derrickhand
roughneck
pipeline pump operator
oil rig motorhand
well-digger
tunnel boring machine operator
roustabout

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

81 / 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

129 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 10 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 18.8 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 18.8 = 81.2.

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 79 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?

Well drillers and borers and related workers 81

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.

Drilling and servicing records.
Monitoring gauges with sensors and software.
Crew scheduling and training records.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

Handling pipe and heavy equipment safely.
Hearing and feeling when something is wrong.
Repairing rigs in harsh conditions.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

Automated drilling systems.
Geothermal and carbon storage wells.
Sealing and decommissioning old wells.

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

24 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 50 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

79 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 50 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

79 How
hands-on

50 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, averaged across 7 US jobs , so treat it as rough.

finger skill 44.7 · hand skill 47.4 · cramped spaces 58.1 · 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 50, against an average of 19. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

50
Maintaining records of drilling and servicing operations

Medium
26
Supervising and training crew members.

Low
23
Monitoring gauges and other indicators and listening to equipment to detect malfunctions and unusual well conditions, and determining the need to change drilling or equipment

Very Low
15
Operating controls to lower and raise drill pipes and casings in and out of wells, regulate pressure in the well and control the speed of tools

Very Low
14
Operating machines and tools to extract dust, cuttings and lost and broken drilling equipment from holes and wells

Very Low
14
Preparing drilling fluid and checking the operation of pumps to ensure adequate circulation of fluid in drill pipe and well

Very Low
12
Assembling and dismantling pipes, casings and drill heads, and replacing dysfunctional equipment

Very Low
12
Maintaining, adjusting, repairing and cleaning drilling rigs, hoisting and other machinery

Very Low
11
Closing and sealing wells no longer in use

Very Low
11
Dismantling, moving and assembling drilling rigs and auxiliary equipment

Very Low

10 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: 50
AI does it for you: 24

Sidekick wins, by 26 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 7122

So, should drillers and rig workers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

The paperwork is moving. Keeping drilling records is the most exposed task, rated Medium, and supervising crews rates Low; operating rigs and handling pipe rate Very Low. Automated drilling systems are spreading on some rigs, and the energy transition is changing where drilling happens.

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 39 jobs in the “Plant and machine operators, and assemblers” family, averaging 80. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →