Job Check
Biological Technicians
Assist biological and medical scientists. Set up, operate, and maintain laboratory instruments and equipment, monitor experiments, collect data and samples, make observations, and calculate and record results. May analyze organic substances, such as blood, food, and drugs.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Conduct research, or assist in the conduct of research, including the collection of information and samples, such as blood, water, soil, plants and animals.Mostly human for now
- 02Monitor and observe experiments, recording production and test data for evaluation by research personnel.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Examine animals and specimens to detect the presence of disease or other problems.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 04Input data into databases.AI could speed this up a lot
- 05Isolate, identify and prepare specimens for examination.Mostly human for now
- 06Monitor laboratory work to ensure compliance with set standards.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 07Keep detailed logs of all work-related activities.AI could speed this up a lot
- 08Use computers, computer-interfaced equipment, robotics or high-technology industrial applications to perform work duties.AI could speed this up a lot
- 09Measure or weigh compounds and solutions for use in testing or animal feed.Mostly human for now
- 10Clean, maintain and prepare supplies and work areas.Mostly human for now
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 loss6%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
42%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 27% 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 91% 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.
- Conduct research, or assist in the conduct of research, including the collection of information and samples, such as blood, water, soil, plants and animals.
- Isolate, identify and prepare specimens for examination.
- Measure or weigh compounds and solutions for use in testing or animal feed.