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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists?
Task-level automation exposure for Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
48%
weighted task index
14 of 14 tasks scored
Median Salary
$103,410 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
High
172,340 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+12.6%
employment change
10,500 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 47 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$49,650 – $136,990
Highest medians
California $136,990
New Jersey $129,280
Massachusetts $128,210
Connecticut $116,990
Arizona $116,820
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $49,650
Mississippi $54,040
North Dakota $64,470
Vermont $66,500
New Mexico $67,100
State figures come from the 19-1042 row in the May 2025 state panel. 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 48%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 5%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 46%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 22%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 12/100
Low
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
14 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) 20%
3 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 75%
10 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 5%
1 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 →Constituent Tasks
#7514 · Core · 45% automatable
Follow strict safety procedures when handling toxic materials to avoid contamination.
decision support — Conformance checking aided by AI, but on-site verification is human
Monitor operational procedures in technical environments to ensure conformance to standards.
#7515 · Core · 45% automatable
Evaluate effects of drugs, gases, pesticides, parasites, and microorganisms at various levels.
data analysis — Literature and data aided; lab work human
Research diseases or parasites.
#7513 · Core · 39% automatable
Plan and direct studies to investigate human or animal disease, preventive methods, and treatments for disease.
decision support — Research planning needs domain expertise and feasibility
Plan biological research. Direct medical science or healthcare programs.
#7517 · Core · 35% automatable
Prepare and analyze organ, tissue, and cell samples to identify toxicity, bacteria, or microorganisms or to study cell structure.
physical manipulation — Biological sample analysis needs wet-lab execution
Analyze biological samples.
#20200 · Core · 68% automatable
Conduct research to develop methodologies, instrumentation, and procedures for medical application, analyzing data and presenting findings to the scientific audience and general public.
information retrieval — AI researches and synthesizes; human judges relevance
Analyze health-related data. Research topics in area of expertise. Present research results to others.
#7516 · Core · 55% automatable
Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians.
text generation — Science instruction content AI-assisted; delivery human
Instruct college students in physical or life sciences.
#20201 · Core · 72% automatable
Write and publish articles in scientific journals.
text generation — Reports drafted; presentations need human delivery
Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations.
#23906 · Core · 55% automatable
Write applications for research grants.
text generation — Draft grant text; human owns strategy and budget
Write grant proposals. Prepare proposals or grant applications to obtain project funding.
#7518 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Standardize drug dosages, methods of immunization, and procedures for manufacture of drugs and medicinal compounds.
decision support — AI drafts care standards; clinical authority decides
Establish standards for medical care.
#7521 · Supplemental · 40% automatable
Study animal and human health and physiological processes.
information retrieval — AI researches and synthesizes; human judges relevance
Collect information about community health needs. Check physical condition of people or animals. Measure the physical or physiological attributes of patients. Research topics in area of expertise.
#7519 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Investigate cause, progress, life cycle, or mode of transmission of diseases or parasites.
data analysis — Literature and data aided; lab work human
Research diseases or parasites.
#7523 · Supplemental · 20% automatable
Use equipment such as atomic absorption spectrometers, electron microscopes, flow cytometers, or chromatography systems.
physical manipulation — Hands-on lab/field equipment operation with samples
Operate laboratory or field equipment.
#7520 · Supplemental · 60% automatable
Confer with health departments, industry personnel, physicians, and others to develop health safety standards and public health improvement programs.
text generation — AI drafts standards; committee consensus and authority human
Establish standards for products, processes, or procedures.
#7522 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, and others regarding medical applications of physics, biology, and chemistry.
decision support — Healthcare advice carries liability; human owns it
Advise others on healthcare matters.
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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
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