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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Opticians, Dispensing?
Task-level automation exposure for Opticians, Dispensing: 21 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
35%
weighted task index
21 of 21 tasks scored
Median Salary
$47,260 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
73,530 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+4.2%
employment change
5,600 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.
$28,980 – $75,300
Highest medians
Connecticut $75,300
Hawaii $75,300
New Jersey $72,460
Massachusetts $67,210
New York $63,880
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $28,980
Louisiana $36,360
Mississippi $36,680
Alabama $36,880
Oklahoma $37,940
State figures come from the 29-2081 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 35%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 27%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 44%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 15%
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 4/100
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
21 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) 24%
5 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 20%
4 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 56%
12 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
#4201 · Core · 15% automatable
Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices.
physical manipulation — Measuring physiological attributes needs hands-on devices
Measure the physical or physiological attributes of patients.
#4202 · Core · 10% automatable
Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications.
physical manipulation — Medical device fabrication is physical manufacturing
Fabricate medical devices.
#4210 · Core · 55% automatable
Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements.
decision support — Treatment guidance aided; clinical accountability human
Evaluate treatment options to guide medical decisions.
#4207 · Core · 55% automatable
Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs.
decision support — Assistive device recommendations need client-specific assessment
Recommend types of assistive devices.
#4204 · Core · 30% automatable
Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions.
decision support — Assistive device recommendations need client-specific assessment
Fit eyeglasses, contact lenses, or other vision aids. Recommend types of assistive devices.
#4205 · Core · 62% automatable
Maintain records of customer prescriptions, work orders, and payments.
interpersonal — Patient history requires live elicitation and judgment
Record patient medical histories.
#4209 · Core · 5% automatable
Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands.
physical manipulation — Fitting eyewear requires hands-on patient measurement
Fit eyeglasses, contact lenses, or other vision aids.
#4213 · Core · 30% automatable
Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses.
interpersonal — Patient assistive-equipment instruction is hands-on care
Instruct patients in the use of assistive equipment.
#4212 · Core · 20% automatable
Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses.
physical manipulation — Diagnostic instruments applied to patients by hand
Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment.
#4203 · Core · 66% automatable
Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses.
text generation — Detailed work plans drafted from specifications
Prepare detailed work plans. Plan production or operational procedures or sequences.
#4215 · Core · 65% automatable
Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist.
data analysis — Patient info verification against records, human confirms
Gather medical information from patient histories. Verify accuracy of patient information. Perform clerical work in medical settings.
#4208 · Core · 40% automatable
Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general.
interpersonal — Marketing healthcare services needs persuasion and trust
Merchandise healthcare products or services.
#4217 · Core · 10% automatable
Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications.
physical manipulation — Medical device fabrication is physical manufacturing
Fabricate medical devices.
#4206 · Core · 66% automatable
Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping.
data analysis — Medical billing coded and processed; human audits denials
Perform clerical work in medical settings. Process medical billing information.
#4219 · Core · 10% automatable
Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames.
physical manipulation — Medical device fabrication is physical manufacturing
Fabricate medical devices.
#4211 · Core · 30% automatable
Instruct clients in how to wear and care for eyeglasses.
interpersonal — Patient assistive-equipment instruction is hands-on care
Instruct patients in the use of assistive equipment.
#4220 · Core · 30% automatable
Supervise the training of student opticians.
interpersonal — Provider training is clinical, hands-on, accountable
Train medical providers.
#18551 · Core · 70% automatable
Order and purchase frames and lenses.
decision support — Medical supply ordering via systems; human approves
Order medical supplies or equipment.
#4218 · Core · 10% automatable
Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses.
physical manipulation — Medical device fabrication is physical manufacturing
Fabricate medical devices.
#4214 · Core · 8% automatable
Repair damaged frames.
physical manipulation — Manual repair of assistive devices
Repair medical or dental assistive devices.
#4216 · Core · 40% automatable
Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise.
interpersonal — Marketing healthcare services needs persuasion and trust
Merchandise healthcare products or services.
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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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