AI exposure: Orthoptists
Diagnose and treat visual system disorders such as binocular vision and eye movement impairments.
Reading this score
computedAt 17.6% of weighted task load, Orthoptists sits at the 30th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 53.4% 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 16 tasks it averages 2.66 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 diagnostic or treatment reports for other medical practitioners or therapists, at 53.3%. The least is Assist ophthalmologists in diagnostic ophthalmic procedures, 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 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 16 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 7 assisted and 6 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 | 1.81 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.28 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.78 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.47 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.72 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.66 | 0-3 |
Task by task
16 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare diagnostic or treatment reports for other medical practitioners or therapists. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 3.91 | exposed |
| Interpret clinical or diagnostic test results. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.66 | exposed |
| Develop nonsurgical treatment plans for patients with conditions such as strabismus, nystagmus, and other visual disorders. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.82 | assisted |
| Develop or use special test and communication techniques to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of children or patients with disabilities. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.38 | exposed |
| Present or publish scientific papers. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 2.97 | assisted |
| Participate in clinical research projects. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.35 | assisted |
| Refer patients to ophthalmic surgeons or other physicians. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.41 | assisted |
| Provide instructions to patients or family members concerning diagnoses or treatment plans. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.70 | assisted |
| Collaborate with ophthalmologists, optometrists, or other specialists in the diagnosis, treatment, or management of conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, and retinal diseases. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.12 | assisted |
| Evaluate, diagnose, or treat disorders of the visual system with an emphasis on binocular vision or abnormal eye movements. | 10.0% | 40.0% | 50.0% | 5.00 | assisted |
| Perform diagnostic tests or measurements, such as motor testing, visual acuity testing, lensometry, retinoscopy, and color vision testing. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.94 | untouched |
| Perform vision screening of children in schools or community health centers. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 2.87 | untouched |
| Examine patients with problems related to ocular motility, binocular vision, amblyopia, or strabismus. | 5.8% | 19.2% | 75.0% | 4.97 | untouched |
| Provide training related to clinical methods or orthoptics to students, resident physicians, or other health professionals. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Provide nonsurgical interventions, including corrective lenses, patches, drops, fusion exercises, or stereograms, to treat conditions such as strabismus, heterophoria, and convergence insufficiency. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.88 | untouched |
| Assist ophthalmologists in diagnostic ophthalmic procedures, such as ultrasonography, fundus photography, and tonometry. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.25 | 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.