AI exposure: Geneticists
Research and study the inheritance of traits at the molecular, organism or population level. May evaluate or treat patients with genetic disorders.
Reading this score
computed35.7% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Geneticists at the 62th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.3 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 24 tasks it averages 2.04 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Search scientific literature to select and modify methods and procedures most appropriate for..., at 80.0%. The least is Maintain laboratory safety programs and train personnel in laboratory safety techniques, at 10.0%. A gap of 70.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within life, physical and social science occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 36.3% across the group's 60 roles, with 31 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 24 tasks, 11 are currently banded exposed, 9 assisted and 4 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take cheaper ways to verify output, since the cost of checking is currently doing more to hold this work in place than the cost of producing it. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
24 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search scientific literature to select and modify methods and procedures most appropriate for genetic research goals. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.36 | exposed |
| Prepare results of experimental findings for presentation at professional conferences or in scientific journals. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.38 | exposed |
| Write grants and papers or attend fundraising events to seek research funds. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.36 | exposed |
| Review, approve, or interpret genetic laboratory results. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.32 | exposed |
| Design and maintain genetics computer databases. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 2.95 | exposed |
| Maintain laboratory notebooks that record research methods, procedures, and results. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.36 | exposed |
| Confer with information technology specialists to develop computer applications for genetic data analysis. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.29 | exposed |
| Plan or conduct basic genomic and biological research related to areas such as regulation of gene expression, protein interactions, metabolic networks, and nucleic acid or protein complexes. | 35.4% | 27.1% | 37.5% | 4.38 | exposed |
| Attend clinical and research conferences and read scientific literature to keep abreast of technological advances and current genetic research findings. | 35.0% | 15.0% | 50.0% | 4.29 | exposed |
| Participate in the development of endangered species breeding programs or species survival plans. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 2.75 | exposed |
| Plan curatorial programs for species collections that include acquisition, distribution, maintenance, or regeneration. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 2.50 | exposed |
| Evaluate genetic data by performing appropriate mathematical or statistical calculations and analyses. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.22 | assisted |
| Analyze determinants responsible for specific inherited traits, and devise methods for altering traits or producing new traits. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.14 | assisted |
| Collaborate with biologists and other professionals to conduct appropriate genetic and biochemical analyses. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.62 | assisted |
| Create or use statistical models for the analysis of genetic data. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.52 | assisted |
| Design sampling plans or coordinate the field collection of samples such as tissue specimens. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.17 | assisted |
| Conduct family medical studies to evaluate the genetic basis for traits or diseases. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.13 | assisted |
| Extract deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or perform diagnostic tests involving processes such as gel electrophoresis, Southern blot analysis, and polymerase chain reaction analysis. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.14 | assisted |
| Develop protocols to improve existing genetic techniques or to incorporate new diagnostic procedures. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.29 | assisted |
| Evaluate, diagnose, or treat genetic diseases. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 3.67 | assisted |
| Verify that cytogenetic, molecular genetic, and related equipment and instrumentation is maintained in working condition to ensure accuracy and quality of experimental results. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 3.35 | untouched |
| Instruct medical students, graduate students, or others in methods or procedures for diagnosis and management of genetic disorders. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.62 | untouched |
| Supervise or direct the work of other geneticists, biologists, technicians, or biometricians working on genetics research projects. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.48 | untouched |
| Maintain laboratory safety programs and train personnel in laboratory safety techniques. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.50 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.31 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.17 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.67 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.25 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.83 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.04 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.