AI exposure: Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric
Diagnose and perform surgery to treat and help prevent disorders and diseases of the eye. May also provide vision services for treatment including glasses and contacts.
Reading this score
computedAt 17.9% of weighted task load, Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric sits at the 30th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 54.4% 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 18 tasks it averages 2.83 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 Document or evaluate patients' medical histories, at 53.3%. The least is Perform laser surgeries to alter, remove, reshape, or replace ocular tissue, at 0.0%. 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 healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.5% across the group's 89 roles, with 48 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 18 tasks, 2 are currently banded exposed, 8 assisted and 8 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take a change in who is permitted to sign the work, which is a question for regulators rather than for engineers. 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 | 1.78 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.11 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.81 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.72 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.00 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.83 | 0-3 |
Task by task
18 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document or evaluate patients' medical histories. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.60 | exposed |
| Educate patients about maintenance and promotion of healthy vision. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.60 | exposed |
| Provide ophthalmic consultation to other medical professionals. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | 4.51 | assisted |
| Develop or implement plans and procedures for ophthalmologic services. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.72 | assisted |
| Develop treatment plans based on patients' histories and goals, the nature and severity of disorders, and treatment risks and benefits. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.71 | assisted |
| Perform, order, or interpret the results of diagnostic or clinical tests. | 29.2% | 33.3% | 37.5% | 4.58 | assisted |
| Conduct clinical or laboratory-based research in ophthalmology. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 2.63 | assisted |
| Refer patients for more specialized treatments when conditions exceed the experience, expertise, or scope of practice of practitioner. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.48 | assisted |
| Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of health professionals to provide optimal patient care. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.34 | assisted |
| Diagnose or treat injuries, disorders, or diseases of the eye and eye structures including the cornea, sclera, conjunctiva, or eyelids. | 10.0% | 40.0% | 50.0% | 4.76 | assisted |
| Perform comprehensive examinations of the visual system to determine the nature or extent of ocular disorders. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.81 | untouched |
| Prescribe corrective lenses such as glasses or contact lenses. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.27 | untouched |
| Prescribe ophthalmologic treatments or therapies such as chemotherapy, cryotherapy, or low vision therapy. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Instruct interns, residents, or others in ophthalmologic procedures and techniques. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 3.42 | untouched |
| Provide or direct the provision of postoperative care. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.76 | untouched |
| Prescribe or administer topical or systemic medications to treat ophthalmic conditions and to manage pain. | 2.9% | 9.6% | 87.5% | 4.72 | untouched |
| Perform ophthalmic surgeries such as cataract, glaucoma, refractive, corneal, vitro-retinal, eye muscle, or oculoplastic surgeries. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.70 | untouched |
| Perform laser surgeries to alter, remove, reshape, or replace ocular tissue. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.46 | 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.