Will AI replace Chemical Technicians?
Estimated risk score: 46 out of 100
Moderate replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (27 to 65).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 16 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 19-4031.00 · Life, Physical, and Social Science
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 3 of its 16 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Write technical reports or prepare graphs or charts to document experimental results.
- Order and inventory materials to maintain supplies.
- Prepare chemical solutions for products or processes, following standardized formulas, or create experimental formulas.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 6 of its 16 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Maintain, clean, or sterilize laboratory instruments or equipment.
- Conduct chemical or physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative or quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, or gaseous materials.
- Provide and maintain a safe work environment by participating in safety programs, committees, or teams and by conducting laboratory or plant safety audits.
- Train new employees on topics such as the proper operation of laboratory equipment.
- Design or fabricate experimental apparatus to develop new products or processes.
- Operate experimental pilot plants, assisting with experimental design.
What the job is
Conduct chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous materials for research and development of new products or processes, quality control, maintenance of environmental standards, and other work involving experimental, theoretical, or practical application of chemistry and related sciences.
Also called: Laboratory Analyst (Lab Analyst), Assayer, Perfumer, Dye Expert, Lab Tester, Lab Worker, Lab Cureman, Gold Assayer.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate