Community Sentiment
Do you agree?
Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians?
Task-level automation exposure for Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians: 18 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
17%
weighted task index
18 of 18 tasks scored
Median Salary
$39,460 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
18,660 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+2.2%
employment change
2,200 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 41 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$24,420 – $62,410
Highest medians
Connecticut $62,410
New Hampshire $59,460
Washington $49,230
Colorado $48,540
Rhode Island $47,440
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $24,420
Iowa $33,910
South Carolina $34,140
Virginia $34,170
Mississippi $35,230
State figures come from the 51-9083 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 17%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 75%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 6%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 0%
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 8/100
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
18 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) 6%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 6%
1 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 88%
16 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.
- New 07/2015 · Incumbent
Tint lenses according to customer specifications.
Constituent Tasks
#10529 · Core · 5% automatable
Mount and secure lens blanks or optical lenses in holding tools or chucks of cutting, polishing, grinding, or coating machines.
physical manipulation — Mounting workpieces is physical loading
Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment.
#10532 · Core · 25% automatable
Inspect lens blanks to detect flaws, verify smoothness of surface, and ensure thickness of coating on lenses.
visual inspection — Flaw location on physical products needs presence
Inspect finished products to locate flaws.
#10537 · Core · 3% automatable
Set up machines to polish, bevel, edge, or grind lenses, flats, blanks, or other precision optical elements.
physical manipulation — Glass shaping is skilled manual hot work
Shape glass or similar materials.
#10540 · Core · 25% automatable
Inspect, weigh, and measure mounted or unmounted lenses after completion to verify alignment and conformance to specifications, using precision instruments.
physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces
Weigh finished products. Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications.
#10530 · Core · 3% automatable
Shape lenses appropriately so that they can be inserted into frames.
physical manipulation — Glass shaping is skilled manual hot work
Shape glass or similar materials.
#10533 · Core · 9% automatable
Clean finished lenses and eyeglasses, using cloths and solvents.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of physical workpieces
Clean workpieces or finished products.
#10528 · Core · 6% automatable
Mount, secure, and align finished lenses in frames or optical assemblies, using precision hand tools.
physical manipulation — Aligning parts for assembly needs hands and judgment
Align parts or workpieces to ensure proper assembly.
#10535 · Core · 80% automatable
Examine prescriptions, work orders, or broken or used eyeglasses to determine specifications for lenses, contact lenses, or other optical elements.
information retrieval — Parse specs and materials from orders
Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements.
#10527 · Core · 8% automatable
Adjust lenses and frames to correct alignment.
physical manipulation — Manual repair of assistive devices
Repair medical or dental assistive devices.
#10534 · Core · 55% automatable
Select lens blanks, molds, tools, and polishing or grinding wheels, according to production specifications.
decision support — Equipment selection against specs; human verifies fit
Select production equipment according to product specifications.
#10539 · Core · 10% automatable
Position and adjust cutting tools to specified curvature, dimensions, and depth of cut.
physical manipulation — Physical control setting for cutting
Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment. Set equipment controls to meet cutting specifications.
#10531 · Core · 10% automatable
Assemble eyeglass frames and attach shields, nose pads, and temple pieces, using pliers, screwdrivers, and drills.
physical manipulation — Customized device construction is hands-on fabrication
Construct customized assistive medical or dental devices.
#10536 · Core · 10% automatable
Set dials and start machines to polish lenses or hold lenses against rotating wheels to polish them manually.
physical manipulation — Grinding requires hands-on control and feel
Polish materials, workpieces, or finished products. Operate grinding equipment.
#10538 · Core · 9% automatable
Repair broken parts, using precision hand tools and soldering irons.
physical manipulation — Soldering requires fine manual dexterity
Solder parts or workpieces. Repair medical or dental assistive devices.
#10543 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Immerse eyeglass frames in solutions to harden, soften, or dye frames.
physical manipulation — Immersing workpieces in solutions by hand
Immerse objects or workpieces in cleaning or coating solutions.
#10542 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Lay out lenses and trace lens outlines on glass, using templates.
physical manipulation — Drawing guide lines on materials is hands-on
Draw guide lines or markings on materials or workpieces using patterns or other references.
#10544 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Control equipment that coats lenses to alter their reflective qualities.
physical manipulation — Manual spray/coating control requires dexterity and judgment
Operate painting or coating equipment.
#10541 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Remove lenses from molds and separate lenses in containers for further processing or storage.
physical manipulation — Removing workpieces from molds is physical
Remove workpieces from molds.
Embed this calculator on your site ↓
Bloggers & authors: Embed this interactive calculator directly in your articles or comparison guides. It loads dynamically via a responsive iframe (auto-resizing to prevent double scrollbars) and provides a direct, high-value tool for your audience.
<div class="giniloh-calculator-embed" data-calculator="ophthalmic-laboratory-technicians"></div>
<script src="https://giniloh.com/embed.js" async></script> 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 →Related Article
Best AI Proof Jobs in a Changing Market
Worried robots are coming for your paycheck? You’re not alone—but the real story is far more hopeful. This guide cuts through the scare headlines to reveal exactly where smart, sustainable career opportunities exist right now. We’ve curated a list of true ai proof jobs—roles in healthcare, skilled trades, and cybersecurity that not only survive automation but thrive because of human judgment and empathy. You’ll get specific, money-making data on projected growth (the BLS says wind turbine technicians, for instance, will grow 44% by 2032), real salary ranges from active job listings, and a simple self-assessment quiz to identify your own most resilient path. Plus, we name companies hiring today and the niche job boards they use. Stop worrying and start planning—your secure career is closer than you think.
Read Article ->