Job Check
Biochemists and Biophysicists
Study the chemical composition or physical principles of living cells and organisms, their electrical and mechanical energy, and related phenomena. May conduct research to further understanding of the complex chemical combinations and reactions involved in metabolism, reproduction, growth, and heredity. May determine the effects of foods, drugs, serums, hormones, and other substances on tissues and vital processes of living organisms.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences.AI could speed this up a lot
- 02Teach or advise undergraduate or graduate students or supervise their research.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Study physical principles of living cells or organisms and their electrical or mechanical energy, applying methods and knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 04Manage laboratory teams or monitor the quality of a team's work.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 05Develop new methods to study the mechanisms of biological processes.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research.AI could speed this up a lot
- 07Design or perform experiments with equipment, such as lasers, accelerators, or mass spectrometers.Mostly human for now
- 08Determine the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects.Mostly human for now
- 10Prepare reports or recommendations, based upon research outcomes.People already use AI for this at work
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job loss8%of this job’s work time goes to tasks that people already do with Claude at work, counting tasks where AI only helps as half (2026).Anthropic, 2026
46%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 80% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 69% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Design or perform experiments with equipment, such as lasers, accelerators, or mass spectrometers.
- Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects.