AI exposure: Microbiologists
Investigate the growth, structure, development, and other characteristics of microscopic organisms, such as bacteria, algae, or fungi. Includes medical microbiologists who study the relationship between organisms and disease or the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.
Reading this score
computedAt 21.9% of weighted task load, Microbiologists sits at the 40th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 55.2% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 14 tasks it averages 2.14 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 Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes, at 73.3%. The least is Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed..., at 9.2%. A gap of 64.2% 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 51 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 14 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 6 assisted and 5 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
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 | 1.82 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.07 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.82 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.36 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.71 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.14 | 0-3 |
Task by task
14 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Develop new products and procedures for sterilization, food and pharmaceutical supply preservation, or microbial contamination detection. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.47 | exposed |
| Research use of bacteria and microorganisms to develop vitamins, antibiotics, amino acids, grain alcohol, sugars, and polymers. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 3.71 | exposed |
| Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.57 | assisted |
| Study the structure and function of human, animal, and plant tissues, cells, pathogens, and toxins. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.53 | assisted |
| Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens. | 21.7% | 28.3% | 50.0% | 4.26 | assisted |
| Provide laboratory services for health departments, community environmental health programs, and physicians needing information for diagnosis and treatment. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.29 | assisted |
| Conduct chemical analyses of substances such as acids, alcohols, and enzymes. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.33 | assisted |
| Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.11 | assisted |
| Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection. | 13.8% | 23.8% | 62.5% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Use a variety of specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis units, thermocyclers, fluorescence-activated cell sorters, and phosphorimagers. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.15 | untouched |
| Supervise biological technologists and technicians and other scientists. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.20 | untouched |
| Observe action of microorganisms upon living tissues of plants, higher animals, and other microorganisms, and on dead organic matter. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.67 | untouched |
| Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition. | 9.2% | 15.8% | 75.0% | 4.59 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
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.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.