AI exposure: Natural Sciences Managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics, and research and development in these fields.
Reading this score
computed41.4% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Natural Sciences Managers at the 73th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.8 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 context. Across this occupation's 16 tasks it averages 2.15 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Review project activities and prepare and review research, testing, or operational reports, at 73.3%. The least is Hire, supervise, or evaluate engineers, technicians, researchers, or other staff, at 20.0%. A gap of 53.3% 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 management occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 56 roles in the group is 41.2%, and only 27 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 16 tasks, 12 are currently banded exposed, 4 assisted and 0 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
16 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review project activities and prepare and review research, testing, or operational reports. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.09 | exposed |
| Prepare project proposals. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.86 | exposed |
| Make presentations at professional meetings to further knowledge in the field. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.24 | exposed |
| Prepare and administer budgets, approve and review expenditures, and prepare financial reports. | 46.7% | 28.3% | 25.0% | 3.54 | exposed |
| Confer with scientists, engineers, regulators, or others to plan or review projects or to provide technical assistance. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.03 | exposed |
| Determine scientific or technical goals within broad outlines provided by top management and make detailed plans to accomplish these goals. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.92 | exposed |
| Develop innovative technology or train staff for its implementation. | 39.6% | 22.9% | 37.5% | 3.30 | exposed |
| Design or coordinate successive phases of problem analysis, solution proposals, or testing. | 37.5% | 25.0% | 37.5% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Develop client relationships and communicate with clients to explain proposals, present research findings, establish specifications, or discuss project status. | 35.4% | 27.1% | 37.5% | 3.97 | exposed |
| Advise or assist in obtaining patents or meeting other legal requirements. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | 3.05 | assisted |
| Conduct own research in field of expertise. | 33.3% | 29.2% | 37.5% | 3.53 | exposed |
| Plan or direct research, development, or production activities. | 32.4% | 25.9% | 41.7% | 4.21 | exposed |
| Develop or implement policies, standards, or procedures for the architectural, scientific, or technical work performed to ensure regulatory compliance or operations enhancement. | 31.1% | 27.2% | 41.7% | 3.71 | exposed |
| Recruit personnel or oversee the development or maintenance of staff competence. | 29.2% | 33.3% | 37.5% | 3.57 | assisted |
| Provide for stewardship of plant or animal resources or habitats, studying land use, monitoring animal populations, or providing shelter, resources, or medical treatment for animals. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.16 | assisted |
| Hire, supervise, or evaluate engineers, technicians, researchers, or other staff. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.31 | assisted |
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 | 2.76 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.33 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.09 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.23 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.15 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.66 | 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.