Cytotechnologists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 28% 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 the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 72% of the time, stays with people.
Stain, mount, and study cells to detect evidence of cancer, hormonal abnormalities, and other pathological conditions following established standards and practices.
$62,930 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on11 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people29 h
Cytotechnologists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 11 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 29 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Provide patient clinical data or microscopic findings to assist pathologists in the preparation of pathology reports (about 3 h); Examine cell samples to detect abnormalities in the color, shape, or size of cellular components and patterns (about 3 h); Assign tasks or coordinate task assignments to ensure adequate performance of laboratory activities (about 2 h).
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.
- 28%
- 0%
- 72%
Anthropic's data does not cover this job.
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, 8%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 26%. Today's estimate: 28%.
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 13 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.031% to 0.012% (released February and March 2025); 0.059% to 0.013% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.031% | 359 of 708 | 5 of 13 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.012% | 488 of 703 | 4 of 13 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.059% | 219 of 655 | 3 of 13 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.011% | 465 of 672 | 2 of 13 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.013% | 454 of 677 | 3 of 13 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 13 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 13 |
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 53% of this job's working time as physical work. For 32% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 26% in a purpose-built cell, 6% in a structured facility. 0.39 of 3, the 348th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 47%
- No robot shown 21%
- In a purpose-built cell 26%
- In a structured facility 6%
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 . 13 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare and analyze samples, such as Papanicolaou (PAP) smear body fluids and fine needle aspirations (FNAs), to detect abnormal conditions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 28% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain effective laboratory operations by adhering to standards of specimen collection, preparation, or laboratory safety.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Hologic ThinPrep Genesis processor (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine specimens, using microscopes, to evaluate specimen quality.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Hologic Genius Digital Diagnostics System (Genius Digital Imager) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Provide patient clinical data or microscopic findings to assist pathologists in the preparation of pathology reports.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 8% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Assist pathologists or other physicians to collect cell samples by fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy or other method.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ASP Health ROSE Prep / ROSE View (automated ROSE workflow) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine cell samples to detect abnormalities in the color, shape, or size of cellular components and patterns.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 7% | 8 min4 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Assign tasks or coordinate task assignments to ensure adequate performance of laboratory activities.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Prepare cell samples by applying special staining techniques, such as chromosomal staining, to differentiate cells or cell components.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BD Totalys SlidePrep / BD Totalys MultiProcessor (Becton Dickinson) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Adjust, maintain, or repair laboratory equipment, such as microscopes.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 38 min13 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Submit slides with abnormal cell structures to pathologists for further examination.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Automated Glass Slide Archive System (Kilde Automation archiving robot) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Document specimens by verifying patients' and specimens' information.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ThinPrep 5000 Processor with AutoLoader (Hologic) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 4 min2 min to 10 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Examine specimens to detect abnormal hormone conditions.Done yearly or less by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now |
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). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Cytotechnologists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 28% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 28% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. 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 Cytotechnologists 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: Provide patient clinical data or microscopic findings to assist pathologists in the preparation of pathology reports (100% of the task's time now); Examine cell samples to detect abnormalities in the color, shape, or size of cellular components and patterns (100% of the task's time now); and Assign tasks or coordinate task assignments to ensure adequate performance of laboratory activities (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Cytotechnologists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Prepare and analyze samples, such as Papanicolaou (PAP) smear body fluids and fine needle aspirations (FNAs), to detect abnormal conditions; Maintain effective laboratory operations by adhering to standards of specimen collection, preparation, or laboratory safety; and Examine specimens, using microscopes, to evaluate specimen quality. Together such tasks are about 72% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Cytotechnologists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. 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 Cytotechnologists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 53% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 32% of the working time, 6% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.39 of 3. One example: Hologic Genius Digital Diagnostics System (Genius Digital Imager) for "examine specimens, using microscopes, to evaluate specimen quality". 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 13 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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