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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Microbiologists?
Task-level automation exposure for Microbiologists: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
37%
weighted task index
14 of 14 tasks scored
Median Salary
$87,990 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
18,940 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+6.2%
employment change
1,500 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 43 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$59,750 – $122,350
Highest medians
Massachusetts $122,350
California $108,530
Maryland $108,470
Georgia $103,070
New Jersey $96,020
Lowest medians
Arkansas $59,750
Mississippi $61,690
Puerto Rico $63,680
Nevada $64,490
South Carolina $64,740
State figures come from the 19-1022 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 37%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 17%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 31%
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 50/100
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
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) 7%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 60%
9 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 33%
4 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
Perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection and interpret the results.
Replaced: Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection.
Constituent Tasks
#15212 · Core · 8% automatable
Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition.
physical manipulation — Aseptic hands-on cultivation
Cultivate micro-organisms for study, testing, or medical preparations. Prepare biological samples for testing or analysis.
#3676 · Core · 35% automatable
Provide laboratory services for health departments, community environmental health programs, and physicians needing information for diagnosis and treatment.
physical manipulation — Biological sample analysis needs wet-lab execution
Analyze biological samples.
#15213 · Core · 33% automatable
Revision
Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection.
physical manipulation — Monitoring requires sensors, sampling, field presence
Monitor environmental impacts of production or development activities. Inspect condition of natural environments.
#3675 · Core · 43% automatable
Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens.
visual inspection — Classification aided by vision; specimen handling human
Classify organisms based on their characteristics or behavior. Analyze biological samples.
#3679 · Core · 32% automatable
Supervise biological technologists and technicians and other scientists.
interpersonal — Technical supervision requires judgment and accountability
Supervise scientific or technical personnel.
#3683 · Core · 20% automatable
Use a variety of specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis units, thermocyclers, fluorescence-activated cell sorters, and phosphorimagers.
physical manipulation — Hands-on lab/field equipment operation with samples
Operate laboratory or field equipment.
#3678 · Core · 45% automatable
Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.
data analysis — Literature and data aided; lab work human
Research diseases or parasites.
#3681 · Core · 72% automatable
Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes.
text generation — Reports drafted; presentations need human delivery
Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations.
#3677 · Core · 35% automatable
Observe action of microorganisms upon living tissues of plants, higher animals, and other microorganisms, and on dead organic matter.
physical manipulation — Examining live organisms needs hands-on lab work
Examine characteristics or behavior of living organisms.
#3680 · Core · 42% automatable
Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health.
data analysis — Analysis aided; bench experiments need human hands
Research microbiological or chemical processes or structures.
#3682 · Core · 42% automatable
Study the structure and function of human, animal, and plant tissues, cells, pathogens, and toxins.
data analysis — Analysis aided; bench experiments need human hands
Research microbiological or chemical processes or structures.
#15214 · Core · 50% automatable
Develop new products and procedures for sterilization, food and pharmaceutical supply preservation, or microbial contamination detection.
decision support — AI aids product development; prototyping and testing human
Develop new or advanced products or production methods.
#3684 · Core · 35% automatable
Conduct chemical analyses of substances such as acids, alcohols, and enzymes.
physical manipulation — Chemical analysis requires instruments and hands
Analyze chemical compounds or substances.
#3685 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Research use of bacteria and microorganisms to develop vitamins, antibiotics, amino acids, grain alcohol, sugars, and polymers.
decision support — AI aids product development; prototyping and testing human
Develop new or advanced products or production methods.
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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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