Will AI replace Marine Engineers and Naval Architects?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
43/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 71% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 6% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 58% of the work
What the job involves
Design, develop, and evaluate the operation of marine vessels, ship machinery, and related equipment, such as power supply and propulsion systems.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(2)
- Prepare plans, estimates, design and construction schedules, and contract specifications, including any special provisions.
- Analyze data to determine feasibility of product proposals.
Within reach(15)
- Maintain contact with, and formulate reports for, contractors and clients to ensure completion of work at minimum cost.
- Conduct analyses of ships, such as stability, structural, weight, and vibration analyses.
- Prepare technical reports for use by engineering, management, or sales personnel.
- Coordinate activities with regulatory bodies to ensure repairs and alterations are at minimum cost and consistent with safety.
- Design complete hull and superstructure according to specifications and test data, in conformity with standards of safety, efficiency, and economy.
and 10 more
Out of reach(13)
- Evaluate performance of craft during dock and sea trials to determine design changes and conformance with national and international standards.
- Perform monitoring activities to ensure that ships comply with international regulations and standards for life-saving equipment and pollution preventatives.
- Inspect marine equipment and machinery to draw up work requests and job specifications.
- Evaluate operation of marine equipment during acceptance testing and shakedown cruises.
- Investigate and observe tests on machinery and equipment for compliance with standards.
and 8 more
Also called
Marine Architect · Marine Engineer · Marine Structural Designer · Naval Architect · Ship Equipment Engineer · Engineer · Marine Equipment Engineer · Naval Engineer
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics