Investigate system, equipment, or product failures.

Investigate system, equipment, or product failures. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 7 occupations and seen in 7 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Investigate organizational or operational problems. in Getting Information .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 7 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 5 (71%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

The Anthropic Economic Index observes real AI use on 1 of these tasks, with a mean mapped-usage share of 0.006% per task.

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Investigate hazardous conditions or spills or outbreaks of disease or food poisoning, collecting samples for analysis. · Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Maintain process parameters and evaluate process anomalies. · Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.9 · exposure with tools
• Diagnose performance problems by reviewing reports or documentation from customers or field engineers or by inspecting malfunctioning or damaged products. · Aerospace Engineers · importance 3.8 · exposure with tools
• Investigate equipment failures or difficulties to diagnose faulty operation and recommend remedial actions. · Mechanical Engineers · importance 3.8 · exposure with tools
• Investigate mechanical failures or unexpected maintenance problems. · Robotics Engineers · importance 3.7 · no direct exposure
• Investigate customer or public complaints to determine the nature and extent of problems. · Electrical Engineers · importance 3.6 · exposure with tools
• Recommend adjudication of product complaints. · Regulatory Affairs Specialists · importance 3.2 · exposure with tools

Occupations that perform this

• Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
• Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Aerospace Engineers
• Mechanical Engineers
• Robotics Engineers
• Electrical Engineers
• Regulatory Affairs Specialists

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-investigate-system-equipment-or-product-failures,
  title  = {Investigate system, equipment, or product failures.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/investigate-system-equipment-or-product-failures}
}