Job Check
Chemists
Conduct qualitative and quantitative chemical analyses or experiments in laboratories for quality or process control or to develop new products or knowledge.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Develop, improve, or customize products, equipment, formulas, processes, or analytical methods.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 02Analyze organic or inorganic compounds to determine chemical or physical properties, composition, structure, relationships, or reactions, using chromatography, spectroscopy, or spectrophotometry techniques.People already use AI for this at work
- 03Induce changes in composition of substances by introducing heat, light, energy, or chemical catalysts for quantitative or qualitative analysis.Mostly human for now
- 04Conduct quality control tests.Mostly human for now
- 05Write technical papers or reports or prepare standards and specifications for processes, facilities, products, or tests.AI could speed this up a lot
- 06Maintain laboratory instruments to ensure proper working order and troubleshoot malfunctions when needed.Mostly human for now
- 07Prepare test solutions, compounds, or reagents for laboratory personnel to conduct tests.Mostly human for now
- 08Compile and analyze test information to determine process or equipment operating efficiency or to diagnose malfunctions.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Confer with scientists or engineers to conduct analyses of research projects, interpret test results, or develop nonstandard tests.People already use AI for this at work
- 10Evaluate laboratory safety procedures to ensure compliance with standards or to make improvements as needed.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
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 loss26%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
38%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 77% 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 84% 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.
- Induce changes in composition of substances by introducing heat, light, energy, or chemical catalysts for quantitative or qualitative analysis.
- Conduct quality control tests.
- Maintain laboratory instruments to ensure proper working order and troubleshoot malfunctions when needed.