{
  "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register",
  "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/media-and-communication-equipment-workers-all-other/",
  "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology",
  "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.",
  "scored_at": "2026-08-11",
  "model": "claude-opus-5",
  "occupation": {
    "title": "Media and Communication Equipment Workers, All Other",
    "soc_code": "27-4099",
    "category": "Media",
    "us_employment": 12450,
    "median_annual_wage": 70720
  },
  "verdict": "EXPOSED",
  "risk_resistance": 43,
  "contested": false,
  "near_boundary": false,
  "dimensions": {
    "task_resistance": 12,
    "embodiment": 15,
    "liability_shield": 2,
    "trust_premium": 7,
    "judgment_accountability": 7
  },
  "reasoning": {
    "task_resistance": "Cable runs, truss rigging, mic placement and chasing a dead SDI line at load-in stay manual, but teleprompter operation, playback cueing, camera tracking and live captioning — a real share of your billed hours — are already handled by auto-switchers and ASR at broadcast-acceptable quality, which is what pins this at 12 rather than the 16 a pure rigger would get.",
    "embodiment": "You work at height on ladders and lifts, in half-built ballrooms, outdoor stages in weather and cramped booths, hauling cases and terminating connectors on site — 15 rather than 18 only because a meaningful slice of the shift is spent seated at a switcher, console or edit bay in a controlled room.",
    "liability_shield": "There is no state license for AV or broadcast equipment operation; OSHA fall-protection and occasional FCC-station or rigging/ETCP certifications may be asked for by a venue, but nothing legally requires you specifically rather than whoever the shop sends.",
    "trust_premium": "Repeat corporate clients, worship-tech volunteers and producers do ask for the tech who already knows their room's patch panel and quirks, which is worth something above anonymous — but the contract goes to the AV company or the house, and the booking survives you being swapped out.",
    "judgment_accountability": "When the satellite feed drops or a wireless channel starts hitting interference mid-event, you decide in seconds whether to switch to backup, re-patch or ride it out with no one to escalate to — but the rest is show files, run-of-show sheets and manufacturer spec, so the discretion is fast rather than consequential."
  },
  "rationale": "This residual catch-all is dominated by hands-on AV and broadcast equipment work: rigging projectors, screens, mics, cameras and satellite/streaming gear in hotels, arenas, houses of worship and studios, then troubleshooting when a feed drops five minutes before doors. That physical setup and live fault-finding is not something today's robotics touches, but the softer half of the job — cueing playback, running teleprompter, captioning, switching, signal routing, logging and archiving media — is exactly what automated switchers, auto-tracking cameras and AI captioning already do at usable quality. There is no license, no signature, and clients buy a working room rather than a named person, so the moat is physical presence and event-day accountability only.",
  "outlook": "Operator-only roles thin out as auto-switching and AI captioning absorb the console seat, while install, rigging and live-troubleshooting work holds and shifts toward IP/networked AV credentials.",
  "what_would_raise_it": {
    "levers": [
      {
        "dimension": "task_resistance",
        "change": "Task-mix shift: as auto-switchers, auto-tracking PTZ cameras and AI captioning absorb the cueing/switching/captioning tier, what remains is live rigging, RF coordination in congested spectrum, multi-vendor signal integration and fault diagnosis under time pressure — a genuinely harder residual job. Watch for job postings shifting from 'AV operator' to 'AV systems tech / network AV (AVoIP, Dante, NDI)' requirements.",
        "plausibility": "already happening",
        "would_add": 3
      },
      {
        "dimension": "embodiment",
        "change": "Growth in hybrid/live-streamed events pushing more work into unfamiliar non-purpose-built venues (ballrooms, warehouses, houses of worship) where rigging points, power and network are improvised each time; also FAA/OSHA-governed overhead truss and rigging work where fall-protection and load calculation must be done by a person on site.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 2
      },
      {
        "dimension": "liability_shield",
        "change": "Certification-as-gatekeeper: venue insurers or general contractors requiring ETCP-certified riggers (Entertainment Technician Certification Program) or licensed low-voltage electricians to sign off on any overhead suspension or permanent AV install — already contractually required at many arenas and by some state low-voltage licensing regimes (e.g., FL, OR, TX electrical licensing for structured cabling). A named signatory on the rigging plot converts 'no license' into personal accountability.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 5
      },
      {
        "dimension": "liability_shield",
        "change": "FCC-facing accountability: enforcement actions on wireless mic operation in the 600 MHz/ TV band requiring a licensed coordinator of record for large events, or ADA/FCC captioning-quality complaints landing on a named human reviewer rather than the ASR vendor. Watch FCC IP-captioning quality rulemaking dockets.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 3
      },
      {
        "dimension": "judgment_accountability",
        "change": "Show-caller / technical-director-in-charge designation in union or venue contracts (IATSE local agreements already name a head of department per call) making one person the decision-maker on go/no-go, load limits and failover during live broadcast — consequential calls under ambiguity with no time to escalate.",
        "plausibility": "already happening",
        "would_add": 4
      },
      {
        "dimension": "trust_premium",
        "change": "Narrow route only: high-stakes live events (broadcast, political, arena, litigation-recorded proceedings) where clients contractually name the lead tech and demand on-site human redundancy because a dropped feed is unrecoverable. This is a premium on presence at a specific moment, not on a person's craft, and does not extend to the hotel-ballroom majority of the occupation.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 2
      }
    ],
    "ceiling_note": "Even with rigging certification and show-caller status, this stays a mid-scoring occupation: the trust premium is thin because buyers purchase a functioning room, and the certification route protects the senior rigger/systems tier while the operator tier — playback, prompter, captioning, logging — keeps thinning. The realistic ceiling is roughly high-50s/low-60s, and it splits the occupation rather than lifting all 12,450 workers."
  },
  "adjudication": null,
  "employment_history": {
    "points": [
      {
        "y": 2017,
        "emp": 19030,
        "wage": 79500
      },
      {
        "y": 2018,
        "emp": 18790,
        "wage": 79580
      },
      {
        "y": 2021,
        "emp": 16670,
        "wage": 63250
      },
      {
        "y": 2022,
        "emp": 14300,
        "wage": 69490
      },
      {
        "y": 2023,
        "emp": 11430,
        "wage": 71340
      },
      {
        "y": 2024,
        "emp": 13020,
        "wage": 67190
      },
      {
        "y": 2025,
        "emp": 12450,
        "wage": 70720
      }
    ],
    "from": 2017,
    "to": 2025,
    "change_pct": -34.6,
    "comparable_from": 2019,
    "spans_soc_revision": true
  },
  "pivots": [],
  "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms"
}