AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Histotechnologists?

Task-level automation exposure for Histotechnologists: 16 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

23% weighted task index

16 of 16 tasks scored

Median Salary

$62,930 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Very High

332,940 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+2.7% employment change

20,800 openings a year · BLS roll-up 29-2010

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 54 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$37,790 – $97,280

Highest medians

New York $97,280

Oregon $83,010

New Hampshire $81,020

Massachusetts $79,120

Vermont $78,680

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $37,790

Guam $45,130

New Mexico $47,360

Idaho $47,450

Virgin Islands $48,650

OEWS has no state row for this exact code, so figures come from the 29-2010 roll-up. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 23%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 57%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 23%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 7%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 8%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 48/100 Moderate

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

16 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 7%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 12%

2 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 81%

13 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Emerging & rewritten tasks

Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.

Revision 08/2024 · Occupational Expert

Cut sections of body tissues for microscopic examination, using microtomes or cryostats.

Replaced: Cut sections of body tissues for microscopic examination, using microtomes.
New 08/2024 · Occupational Expert

Select and maintain controls for stains.

Constituent Tasks

#22781 · Core · 8% automatable

Embed tissue specimens into paraffin wax blocks, or infiltrate tissue specimens with wax.

physical manipulation — Manual specimen preparation

Prepare biological specimens for laboratory analysis.

#22780 · Core · 5% automatable Revision

Cut sections of body tissues for microscopic examination, using microtomes.

physical manipulation — Invasive specimen collection needs hands-on clinical skill

Collect biological specimens from patients.

#22791 · Core · 8% automatable

Stain tissue specimens with dyes or other chemicals to make cell details visible under microscopes.

physical manipulation — Manual specimen preparation

Prepare biological specimens for laboratory analysis.

#22779 · Core · 20% automatable

Compile materials for distribution to pathologists, such as surgical working drafts, requisitions, and slides.

physical manipulation — Physically delivering supplies to workers

Distribute supplies to workers.

#22778 · Core · 80% automatable

Compile and maintain records of preventive maintenance and instrument performance checks according to schedule and regulations.

text generation — Log maintenance and repair records from data

Maintain repair or maintenance records.

#22787 · Core · 25% automatable

Perform tests by following physician instructions.

physical manipulation — Specimen testing needs lab equipment operation

Test biological specimens to gather information about patient conditions.

#22784 · Core · 20% automatable

Operate computerized laboratory equipment to dehydrate, decalcify, or microincinerate tissue samples.

physical manipulation — Physical operation of sample analysis instruments

Operate laboratory equipment to analyze medical samples.

#22789 · Core · 15% automatable

Prepare substances, such as reagents and dilution, and stains for histological specimens according to protocols.

physical manipulation — Medication preparation needs precise hands-on work

Prepare medications or medical solutions.

#22790 · Core · 8% automatable

Resolve problems with laboratory equipment and instruments, such as microscopes, mass spectrometers, microtomes, immunostainers, tissue processors, embedding centers, and water baths.

physical manipulation — Physical lab equipment maintenance

Maintain medical laboratory equipment.

#22782 · Core · 55% automatable

Examine slides under microscopes to ensure tissue preparation meets laboratory requirements.

data analysis — Lab finding interpretation; technician verifies results

Analyze laboratory findings.

#22788 · Core · 8% automatable

Prepare or use prepared tissue specimens for teaching, research or diagnostic purposes.

physical manipulation — Manual specimen preparation

Prepare biological specimens for laboratory analysis.

#22786 · Core · 8% automatable

Perform procedures associated with histochemistry to prepare specimens for immunofluorescence or microscopy.

physical manipulation — Manual specimen preparation

Prepare biological specimens for laboratory analysis.

#22783 · Core · 35% automatable

Identify tissue structures or cell components to be used in the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of diseases.

physical manipulation — Specimen analysis requires lab instruments and hands

Analyze laboratory specimens to detect abnormalities or other problems.

#22792 · Core · 30% automatable

Supervise histology laboratory activities.

interpersonal — Supervising clinicians requires accountability and live judgment

Supervise technical medical personnel.

#22793 · Core · 30% automatable

Teach students or other staff.

interpersonal — Provider training is clinical, hands-on, accountable

Train medical providers.

#22785 · Supplemental · 20% automatable

Perform electron microscopy or mass spectrometry to analyze specimens.

physical manipulation — Physical operation of sample analysis instruments

Operate laboratory equipment to analyze medical samples.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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