JobBreak

Life, Physical, and Social Science · United States (national)

Biologists

How exposed this work is to automation, shown as ranges with the reasoning and sources.

The short version: this role is less exposed to automation, and meaningful change looks likely over the next 5 to 10 years. It is a sourced range, not a verdict, and the detail is below.

Built on O*NET tasks, BLS pay and projections, and peer-reviewed AI-exposure research. Sources shown. Data snapshot SNAPSHOT-2026-11-06. How it works
38.2 of 100
AI / softwarerange 26.2 to 50.2
22.8 of 100
Physical / roboticsrange 10.8 to 34.8

When the change is likely

partial change 0y 5y 10y 15y 20+y

Partial, 5 to 10 years local demand stable

What to do about it

Use AI to outpace AI.

Strategies to protect your livelihood, most important first.

1
Use your 5 to 10 year runway
Change here is gradual. Build resilient skills steadily and watch the signals rather than waiting for a shock.
2
Pivot toward Microbiologists
It is skill-adjacent and less exposed (37.8 vs 38). A lateral move now beats a forced one later.
3
Build a financial buffer
Keep 6 to 12 months of expenses and diversify your income, so a disruption is a setback rather than a catastrophe.
4
Add a recognised credential
A certification or license raises the bar against automation and signals value in a tightening market.

Which of my tasks are exposed

Prepare technical and research reports, such as environmental impact reports, and communicate the results to individuals in industry, government, or the general public.
50.0
Develop and maintain liaisons and effective working relations with groups and individuals, agencies, and the public to encourage cooperative management strategies or to develop information and interpret findings.
100.0
Collect and analyze biological data about relationships among and between organisms and their environment.
50.0
Program and use computers to store, process, and analyze data.
50.0
Supervise biological technicians and technologists and other scientists.
100.0
Identify, classify, and study structure, behavior, ecology, physiology, nutrition, culture, and distribution of plant and animal species.
50.0
Communicate test results to state and federal representatives and general public.
50.0
Prepare requests for proposals or statements of work.
50.0

Longer, orange bars are more automatable; short green bars are resistant.

What is driving my result

lowers risk
raises risk
Task: Develop and maintain liaisons and effective working relations with groups and individuals, agencies, and the public to encourage cooperative management strategies or to develop information and interpret findings.
Task: Supervise biological technicians and technologists and other scientists.

Lower-risk adjacent roles

Microbiologists
37.8

A full, ranked mitigation plan is part of the paid tiers.

How this score is calculated

  1. Map Biologists to its standard O*NET task list (8 core tasks).
  2. Score each task for AI/software exposure (Eloundou et al. 2023) and physical/robotics exposure (an O*NET work-context proxy), each 0 to 100.
  3. The two axis scores are the task averages: AI 38.2, robotics 22.8.
  4. The timeline comes from the higher axis (38.2), shifted for local demand (stable), and seniority. It is read against your remaining working years.
  5. Ranges are about ±12 points. A backtest against real BLS employment change shows the risk ranking holds in aggregate, but individual outcomes are predicted weakly, so results are ranges, never a flat verdict.

Sources: O*NET, Eloundou et al. (2023), GPTs are GPTs, O*NET Work Context, BLS CPI-U, BLS OEWS. Snapshot SNAPSHOT-2026-11-06. Full method and backtest on How it works.

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