Will AI replace Museum Technicians and Conservators?
Estimated risk score: 34 out of 100
Lower 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 (15 to 53).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 26 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 25-4013.00 · Educational Instruction and Library
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: 2 of its 26 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Enter information about museum collections into computer databases.
- Photograph objects for documentation.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 14 of its 26 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes.
- Prepare artifacts for storage and shipping.
- Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration.
- Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up.
- Lead tours and teach educational courses to students and the general public.
- Notify superior when restoration of artifacts requires outside experts.
What the job is
Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts, or botanicals; or artifacts, textiles, or art. May identify and record objects or install and arrange them in exhibits. Includes book or document conservators.
Also called: Conservator, Objects Conservator, Paintings Conservator, Art Preparator, Art Conservator, Ceramic Restorer, Fine Arts Packer, Museum Registrar.
Closest jobs we score by hand
In the same field (Educational Instruction and Library). Different jobs, each scored by a person.
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