The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 19-4099.01 · Job Zone 3

AI exposure: Quality Control Analysts

Conduct tests to determine quality of raw materials, bulk intermediate and finished products. May conduct stability sample tests.

Reading this score

computed

37.9% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Quality Control Analysts at the 67th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.5 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 26 tasks it averages 1.83 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 Compile laboratory test data and perform appropriate analyses, at 80.0%. The least is Ensure that lab cleanliness and safety standards are maintained, at 8.3%. A gap of 71.7% 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 more exposed than most. The median across the 60 roles in the group is 35.8%, and only 26 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 26 tasks, 16 are currently banded exposed, 2 assisted and 8 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

26 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Compile laboratory test data and perform appropriate analyses.80.0%20.0%0.0%4.16exposed
Review data from contract laboratories to ensure accuracy and regulatory compliance.80.0%20.0%0.0%3.54exposed
Write technical reports or documentation, such as deviation reports, testing protocols, and trend analyses.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.10exposed
Investigate or report questionable test results.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.09exposed
Interpret test results, compare them to established specifications and control limits, and make recommendations on appropriateness of data for release.66.7%33.3%0.0%4.35exposed
Perform validations or transfers of analytical methods in accordance with applicable policies or guidelines.66.7%33.3%0.0%3.62exposed
Evaluate analytical methods and procedures to determine how they might be improved.55.0%20.0%25.0%3.40exposed
Coordinate testing with contract laboratories and vendors.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.16exposed
Evaluate new technologies and methods to make recommendations regarding their use.50.0%25.0%25.0%2.94exposed
Complete documentation needed to support testing procedures, including data capture forms, equipment logbooks, or inventory forms.45.0%30.0%25.0%4.18exposed
Identify quality problems and recommend solutions.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.88exposed
Supply quality control data necessary for regulatory submissions.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.76exposed
Write or revise standard quality control operating procedures.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.65exposed
Prepare or review required method transfer documentation including technical transfer protocols or reports.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.58exposed
Develop and qualify new testing methods.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.52exposed
Participate in out-of-specification and failure investigations and recommend corrective actions.40.0%35.0%25.0%3.87exposed
Monitor testing procedures to ensure that all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.16.7%33.3%50.0%4.01assisted
Participate in internal assessments and audits as required.16.7%33.3%50.0%3.64assisted
Conduct routine and non-routine analyses of in-process materials, raw materials, environmental samples, finished goods, or stability samples.15.0%10.0%75.0%4.37untouched
Perform visual inspections of finished products.11.7%13.3%75.0%4.20untouched
Receive and inspect raw materials.11.7%13.3%75.0%3.86untouched
Serve as a technical liaison between quality control and other departments, vendors, or contractors.11.7%13.3%75.0%3.76untouched
Calibrate, validate, or maintain laboratory equipment.10.8%14.2%75.0%4.29untouched
Identify and troubleshoot equipment problems.10.0%15.0%75.0%4.14untouched
Train other analysts to perform laboratory procedures and assays.10.0%15.0%75.0%3.81untouched
Ensure that lab cleanliness and safety standards are maintained.8.3%16.7%75.0%4.20untouched

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
Capability2.540-4
Embodiment1.000-3
Presence0.620-3
Accountability1.270-3
Context1.830-3
Verification cost1.730-3

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.