The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 19-1021.00 · Job Zone 5

AI exposure: Biochemists and Biophysicists

Study the chemical composition or physical principles of living cells and organisms, their electrical and mechanical energy, and related phenomena. May conduct research to further understanding of the complex chemical combinations and reactions involved in metabolism, reproduction, growth, and heredity. May determine the effects of foods, drugs, serums, hormones, and other substances on tissues and vital processes of living organisms.

Reading this score

computed

29.6% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Biochemists and Biophysicists at the 53th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.0 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 2.29 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 Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific..., at 73.3%. The least is Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% 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 life, physical and social science occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 36.3% across the group's 60 roles, with 42 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, 6 are currently banded exposed, 13 assisted and 5 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
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.70exposed
Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.37exposed
Prepare reports or recommendations, based upon research outcomes.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.05exposed
Design or perform experiments with equipment, such as lasers, accelerators, or mass spectrometers.50.0%25.0%25.0%4.22exposed
Develop or test new drugs or medications intended for commercial distribution.30.0%20.0%50.0%3.44exposed
Develop methods to process, store, or use foods, drugs, or chemical compounds.26.7%23.3%50.0%3.25exposed
Study physical principles of living cells or organisms and their electrical or mechanical energy, applying methods and knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology.23.3%26.7%50.0%4.45assisted
Develop new methods to study the mechanisms of biological processes.23.3%26.7%50.0%4.40assisted
Study spatial configurations of submicroscopic molecules, such as proteins, using x-rays or electron microscopes.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.95assisted
Study the chemistry of living processes, such as cell development, breathing and digestion, or living energy changes, such as growth, aging, or death.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.88assisted
Research the chemical effects of substances, such as drugs, serums, hormones, or food, on tissues or vital processes.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.69assisted
Research transformations of substances in cells, using atomic isotopes.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.60assisted
Examine the molecular or chemical aspects of immune system functioning.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.31assisted
Research how characteristics of plants or animals are carried through successive generations.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.29assisted
Investigate the nature, composition, or expression of genes or research how genetic engineering can impact these processes.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.25assisted
Determine the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules.20.0%30.0%50.0%4.20assisted
Develop or execute tests to detect diseases, genetic disorders, or other abnormalities.20.0%30.0%50.0%3.50assisted
Isolate, analyze, or synthesize vitamins, hormones, allergens, minerals, or enzymes and determine their effects on body functions.20.0%30.0%50.0%3.33assisted
Study the mutations in organisms that lead to cancer or other diseases.16.7%33.3%50.0%3.71assisted
Prepare pharmaceutical compounds for commercial distribution.13.3%11.7%75.0%3.75untouched
Produce pharmaceutically or industrially useful proteins, using recombinant DNA technology.13.3%11.7%75.0%3.18untouched
Teach or advise undergraduate or graduate students or supervise their research.11.7%13.3%75.0%4.53untouched
Manage laboratory teams or monitor the quality of a team's work.10.0%15.0%75.0%4.45untouched
Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.05untouched

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

judged

Every 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.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability2.040-4
Embodiment1.690-3
Presence0.440-3
Accountability1.150-3
Context1.900-3
Verification cost2.290-3

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.