Will boilermakers be replaced by AI?
Updated
Boilermakers score 11 of 100 for AI exposure. 93% of their task time still needs a person. AI speeds up the other 7%.
- 7% AI helps
- 93% Needs a person
Low exposure
Lower than 95% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 18 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can't do any of them end to end yet. It speeds up 1 and leaves 17 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Study blueprints to determine locations, relationships, or dimensions of parts. AI can read drawings, but field verification stays with worker. | 45% AI helps |
| Lay out plate, sheet steel, or other heavy metal and locate and mark bending and cutting lines, using protractors, compasses, and drawing instruments or templates. Marking steel is physical work, AI only aids bend calculations. | 20% Needs a person |
| Examine boilers, pressure vessels, tanks, or vats to locate defects, such as leaks, weak spots, or defective sections, so that they can be repaired. Defect inspection needs physical access and tactile checks on vessels. | 15% Needs a person |
| Inspect assembled vessels or individual components, such as tubes, fittings, valves, controls, or auxiliary mechanisms, to locate any defects. Component inspection requires handling and in person examination of parts. | 14% Needs a person |
| Conduct pressure tests on vessels, such as boilers. Pressure testing needs on site equipment and live monitoring. | 12% Needs a person |
| Locate and mark reference points for columns or plates on boiler foundations, following blueprints and using straightedges, squares, transits, or measuring instruments. Foundation layout needs in field surveying with physical instruments. | 10% Needs a person |
| Shape or fabricate parts, such as stacks, uptakes, or chutes, to adapt pressure vessels, heat exchangers, or piping to premises, using heavy-metalworking machines such as brakes, rolls, or drill presses. Machine forming stacks and uptakes is physical shop work. | 9% Needs a person |
| Repair or replace defective pressure vessel parts, such as safety valves or regulators, using torches, jacks, caulking hammers, power saws, threading dies, welding equipment, or metalworking machinery. Repairing pressure parts with torches is hands on, safety critical. | 7% Needs a person |
| Position, align, and secure structural parts or related assemblies to boiler frames, tanks, or vats of pressure vessels, following blueprints. Replaced 'manually' with 'with hands'. | 6% Needs a person |
| Shape seams, joints, or irregular edges of pressure vessel sections or structural parts to attain specified fit of parts, using cutting torches, hammers, files, or metalworking machines. Fitting irregular edges with torches and files is manual craftwork. | 6% Needs a person |
Show the other 8 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Assemble large vessels in an on-site fabrication shop prior to installation to ensure proper fit. Large vessel assembly is physical shop and site work. | 6% Needs a person |
| Clean pressure vessel equipment, using scrapers, wire brushes, and cleaning solvents. Scraping and brushing vessel interiors is manual, physical labor. | 5% Needs a person |
| Bolt or arc weld pressure vessel structures and parts together, using wrenches or welding equipment. Bolting and arc welding vessel parts is physical field work. | 5% Needs a person |
| Install manholes, handholes, taps, tubes, valves, gauges, or feedwater connections in drums of water tube boilers, using hand tools. Installing fittings in drums is confined space hand work. | 5% Needs a person |
| Bell, bead with power hammers, or weld pressure vessel tube ends to ensure leakproof joints. Welding and peening tube ends is skilled physical work. | 4% Needs a person |
| Attach rigging and signal crane or hoist operators to lift heavy frame and plate sections or other parts into place. Rigging and crane signaling is safety critical field work. | 4% Needs a person |
| Straighten or reshape bent pressure vessel plates or structure parts, using hammers, jacks, or torches. Straightening bent plates by hammer and torch is manual work. | 4% Needs a person |
| Install refractory bricks or other heat-resistant materials in fireboxes of pressure vessels. Laying refractory brick in fireboxes is physical manual work. | 4% Needs a person |
How boilermakers compare
All occupations (923)
Construction and extraction (61)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $76,410 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 10,190 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- -1.8% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Read and verify AutoCAD drawings in the field
- Perform and monitor pressure tests on boiler vessels
- Weld and peen boiler tube ends to leakproof joints
- Log inspection and test results in Microsoft Excel
- Record maintenance findings in SAP software
Safer roles nearby
2 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about boilermakers and AI
Will AI replace boilermakers?
Unlikely. About 1 in 10 working hours of a boilermaker go to tasks AI can already do, mostly studying blueprints and calculating bends for plate steel. Most of the job stays with people, since welding, rigging, pressure testing, and hands-on inspection of vessels need a worker on site.
Which boilermaker tasks is AI taking over?
Blueprint study is the most exposed task, with an exposure score of 45, because AI can read drawings and pull out part locations and dimensions. Bend calculations for plate layout, scored 20, also move to software. Marking the steel and checking the dimensions on the real vessel remain with the worker.
Which boilermaker tasks stay human?
Pressure testing, with an exposure score of 12, needs on site equipment and live monitoring. Welding and peening tube ends, scored 4, is skilled physical work at the joint. Rigging and crane signaling, also scored 4, keeps a person on the ground directing lifts of heavy frame and plate sections.
How do boilermakers stay valuable as AI spreads?
Build depth in hands-on work such as welding tube ends and pressure testing, and pair it with software. Check AutoCAD drawing dimensions against the real vessel before fabrication, and log pressure test results in Microsoft Excel. Keep health and safety training current, and record maintenance findings in SAP.
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