Biochemists and Biophysicists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 11% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 61% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 36% of the time, stays with people.
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.
33,830 people do this job in the US. $127,410 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on4 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet21 h
- Stays with people15 h
Biochemists and Biophysicists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 4 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 21 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 15 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Manage laboratory teams or monitor the quality of a team's work (about 1 h); Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences (under an hour); Prepare reports or recommendations, based upon research outcomes (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 64%
- 2%
- 35%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 1%. Today's estimate: 11%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 24 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.089% to 0.19% (released February and March 2025); 0.15% to 0.1% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.089% | 184 of 708 | 9 of 24 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.19% | 94 of 703 | 10 of 24 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.15% | 116 of 655 | 9 of 24 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.11% | 145 of 672 | 12 of 24 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.1% | 159 of 677 | 10 of 24 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 24 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 24 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 63% of this job's working time as physical work. For 57% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 57% in a purpose-built cell. 0.57 of 3, the 291st highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 37%
- No robot shown 7%
- In a purpose-built cell 57%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare reports or recommendations, based upon research outcomes.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 5% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | 28%Half by Apr 2027 | |
| Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 4.2 work days | 35%Half by Jan 2027 | |
| Develop or execute tests to detect diseases, genetic disorders, or other abnormalities.Done yearly or less by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Roche cobas 6800/8800 Systems (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.1 work days3.3 h to 2.1 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Study physical principles of living cells or organisms and their electrical or mechanical energy, applying methods and knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, PatcherBot (Forest lab, Georgia Tech) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 18%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Study the chemistry of living processes, such as cell development, breathing and digestion, or living energy changes, such as growth, aging, or death.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, LabDroid Maholo robotic AI system (Robotic Biology Institute / AIST / RIKEN) (Kanda, Natsume et al.) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 18%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Research the chemical effects of substances, such as drugs, serums, hormones, or food, on tissues or vital processes.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Arctoris Ulysses (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 work days1.3 work days to 2.1 work weeks | 19%Half by May 2027 | |
| Isolate, analyze, or synthesize vitamins, hormones, allergens, minerals, or enzymes and determine their effects on body functions.Done yearly or less by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Ionify 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D Total test on cobas i 601 analyzer (Roche Diagnostics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 2.1 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Examine the molecular or chemical aspects of immune system functioning.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Molecular Devices ELISA HTSx / Advanced EC WorkCell (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 18%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Develop new methods to study the mechanisms of biological processes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 4.2 work days1.7 work days to 3.3 work weeks | 7%Half by Nov 2027 | |
| Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Study the mutations in organisms that lead to cancer or other diseases.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, flowbot ONE liquid handler (Flow Robotics) running Illumina DNA Prep (Leiden University Medical Center / Flow Robotics / Illumina) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 4.2 work days1.7 work days to 2.1 work weeks | 7%Half by Aug 2027 | |
| Research how characteristics of plants or animals are carried through successive generations.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Robot Scientist Adam (Aberystwyth University / University of Cambridge) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 4.2 work days1.7 work days to 2.1 work weeks | 7%Half by Aug 2027 |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Scientific Research and Development Services21,900 people
- Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing5,910 people
- Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools1,630 people
- Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing670 people
- Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services650 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Biochemists and Biophysicists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 11% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 61% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (44% to 63% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Biochemists and Biophysicists come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Manage laboratory teams or monitor the quality of a team's work (80% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences (35% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Prepare reports or recommendations, based upon research outcomes (28% of the task's time now, 99% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Biochemists and Biophysicists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Develop or execute tests to detect diseases, genetic disorders, or other abnormalities; Isolate, analyze, or synthesize vitamins, hormones, allergens, minerals, or enzymes and determine their effects on body functions; and Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects. Together such tasks are about 36% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Biochemists and Biophysicists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 8%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Biochemists and Biophysicists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 63% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 57% of the working time. Its index is 0.57 of 3. One example: Roche cobas 6800/8800 Systems for "develop or execute tests to detect diseases, genetic disorders, or other abnormalities". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 24 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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