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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Ophthalmic Medical Technicians?
Task-level automation exposure for Ophthalmic Medical Technicians: 20 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
20%
weighted task index
20 of 20 tasks scored
Median Salary
$45,570 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
71,010 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+21.4%
employment change
11,800 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 52 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$31,630 – $63,080
Highest medians
Minnesota $63,080
Hawaii $58,240
Wisconsin $56,420
California $54,490
District of Columbia $50,790
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $31,630
Wyoming $35,740
Utah $35,950
Mississippi $36,220
Alabama $36,680
State figures come from the 29-2057 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 20%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 21%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 24%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 13%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 6%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 18/100
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
20 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) 0%
0 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 15%
3 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 85%
17 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 08/2020 · Occupational Expert
Order supplies.
- Revision 08/2020 · Occupational Expert
Perform examinations using ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes.
Replaced: Operate ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes.
Constituent Tasks
#19252 · Core · 46% automatable
Take and document patients' medical histories.
interpersonal — Patient history requires live elicitation and judgment
Collect medical information from patients, family members, or other medical professionals. Record patient medical histories.
#19257 · Core · 15% automatable
Conduct tonometry or tonography tests to measure intraocular pressure.
physical manipulation — Vision tests require hands-on patient examination
Test patient vision.
#19250 · Core · 15% automatable
Revision
Operate ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes.
physical manipulation — Vision tests require hands-on patient examination
Test patient vision.
#19251 · Core · 15% automatable
Take anatomical or functional ocular measurements of the eye or surrounding tissue, such as axial length measurements.
physical manipulation — Measuring physiological attributes needs hands-on devices
Measure the physical or physiological attributes of patients.
#19249 · Core · 15% automatable
Measure visual acuity, including near, distance, pinhole, or dynamic visual acuity, using appropriate tests.
physical manipulation — Vision tests require hands-on patient examination
Test patient vision.
#19248 · Core · 41% automatable
Measure and record lens power, using lensometers.
interpersonal — Patient history requires live elicitation and judgment
Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment. Record patient medical histories.
#19239 · Core · 5% automatable
Administer topical ophthalmic or oral medications.
physical manipulation — Administering medications is hands-on clinical action
Administer non-intravenous medications.
#19245 · Core · 15% automatable
Conduct visual field tests to measure field of vision.
physical manipulation — Vision tests require hands-on patient examination
Test patient vision.
#19255 · Core · 5% automatable
Assist physicians in performing ophthalmic procedures, including surgery.
physical manipulation — Sterile hands-on surgical assistance
Assist healthcare practitioners during surgery.
#19258 · Core · 15% automatable
Measure corneal curvature with keratometers or ophthalmometers to aid in the diagnosis of conditions, such as astigmatism.
physical manipulation — Measuring physiological attributes needs hands-on devices
Measure the physical or physiological attributes of patients.
#19244 · Core · 15% automatable
Conduct ocular motility tests to measure function of eye muscles.
physical manipulation — Vision tests require hands-on patient examination
Test patient vision.
#19243 · Core · 11% automatable
Clean or sterilize ophthalmic or surgical instruments.
physical manipulation — Loading and operating sterilizing equipment by hand
Sterilize medical equipment or instruments. Clean medical equipment or facilities.
#19247 · Core · 8% automatable
Maintain ophthalmic instruments or equipment.
physical manipulation — Hands-on medical instrument maintenance
Maintain medical equipment or instruments.
#19246 · Core · 30% automatable
Instruct patients in the care and use of contact lenses.
interpersonal — Patient assistive-equipment instruction is hands-on care
Instruct patients in the use of assistive equipment.
#19240 · Core · 18% automatable
Assess refractive conditions of eyes, using retinoscopes.
physical manipulation — Diagnostic instruments applied to patients by hand
Test patient vision. Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment.
#19242 · Core · 30% automatable
Call patients to inquire about their post-operative status or recovery.
decision support — Post-surgical monitoring is hands-on clinical observation
Monitor patients following surgeries or other treatments.
#19241 · Core · 30% automatable
Assist patients to insert or remove contact lenses.
interpersonal — Patient assistive-equipment instruction is hands-on care
Instruct patients in the use of assistive equipment.
#19256 · Core · 15% automatable
Conduct binocular disparity tests to assess depth perception.
physical manipulation — Vision tests require hands-on patient examination
Test patient vision.
#19253 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Adjust or make minor repairs to spectacles or eyeglasses.
physical manipulation — Fitting eyewear requires hands-on patient measurement
Fit eyeglasses, contact lenses, or other vision aids.
#19254 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Assist patients to select eyewear.
decision support — Assistive device recommendations need client-specific assessment
Recommend types of assistive devices.
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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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