Job Check
Photonics Engineers
Design technologies specializing in light information or light energy, such as laser or fiber optics technology.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Analyze system performance or operational requirements.People already use AI for this at work
- 02Develop optical or imaging systems, such as optical imaging products, optical components, image processes, signal process technologies, or optical systems.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Develop or test photonic prototypes or models.Mostly human for now
- 04Design, integrate, or test photonics systems or components.Mostly human for now
- 05Assist in the transition of photonic prototypes to production.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Read current literature, talk with colleagues, continue education, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in the field.People already use AI for this at work
- 07Write reports or proposals related to photonics research or development projects.AI could speed this up a lot
- 08Conduct testing to determine functionality or optimization or to establish limits of photonics systems or components.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Determine applications of photonics appropriate to meet product objectives or features.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 10Conduct research on new photonics technologies.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 loss7%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
48%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 71% 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 62% 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.
- Develop or test photonic prototypes or models.
- Design, integrate, or test photonics systems or components.