Microbiologists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 9% 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 49% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 40% of the time, stays with people.
Investigate the growth, structure, development, and other characteristics of microscopic organisms, such as bacteria, algae, or fungi. Includes medical microbiologists who study the relationship between organisms and disease or the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.
18,940 people do this job in the US. $87,990 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 yet20 h
- Stays with people16 h
Microbiologists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 4 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 20 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 16 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes (about 1 h); Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms (under an hour); Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health (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.
- 60%
- 4%
- 36%
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, 0%. Today's estimate: 9%.
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 14 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.07% to 0.074% (released February and March 2025); 0.11% to 0.088% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.07% | 225 of 708 | 7 of 14 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.074% | 204 of 703 | 7 of 14 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.11% | 146 of 655 | 6 of 14 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.092% | 165 of 672 | 7 of 14 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.088% | 178 of 677 | 8 of 14 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 14 |
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 80% of this job's working time as physical work. For 76% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 69% in a purpose-built cell, 7% in a structured facility. 0.83 of 3, the 215th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 20%
- No robot shown 4%
- In a purpose-built cell 69%
- In a structured facility 7%
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 . 14 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Copan WASP Colibri + Radian In-Line Carousel (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 20%Half by Aug 2027 | |
| Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BacterAI (AI agent + laboratory liquid-handling robots) (University of Michigan) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 20%Half by Aug 2027 | |
| Develop new products and procedures for sterilization, food and pharmaceutical supply preservation, or microbial contamination detection.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 1.7 work weeks1.7 work days to 1.5 work months | 1%Half by Oct 2028 | |
| Research use of bacteria and microorganisms to develop vitamins, antibiotics, amino acids, grain alcohol, sugars, and polymers.Done more than weekly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BioAutomata on iBioFAB (Zhao lab, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 1.7 work weeks1.7 work days to 1.5 work months | 1%Half by Oct 2028 | |
| Study the structure and function of human, animal, and plant tissues, cells, pathogens, and toxins.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BD Kiestra Total Lab Automation (TLA), 3rd generation (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 20%Half by Aug 2027 | |
| Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Copan WASP / WASPLab (with PhenoMATRIX AI) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.5 h50 min to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | 44%Half by Dec 2026 | |
| Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, WASPLab + PhenoMATRIX (Copan / bioMerieux) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, CAMII (Culturomics by Automated Microbiome Imaging and Isolation) (Wang lab, Columbia University) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Observe action of microorganisms upon living tissues of plants, higher animals, and other microorganisms, and on dead organic matter.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Fully automated 96-well immuno-µPlaque assay on HighRes Biosolutions/Sartorius CompacT integrated robotic system (Merck & Co. with HighRes Biosolutions, Sartorius, Tecan) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 3.3 h50 min to 2.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Provide laboratory services for health departments, community environmental health programs, and physicians needing information for diagnosis and treatment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Copan WASPLab / WASP / PhenoMATRIX (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.7 h38 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Supervise biological technologists and technicians and other scientists.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people |
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).
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 Microbiologists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 9% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 49% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (31% to 58% 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 Microbiologists 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: Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes (44% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms (20% of the task's time now, 95% by the end of 2028); and Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health (20% of the task's time now, 95% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Microbiologists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection; Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens; and Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition. Together such tasks are about 40% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Microbiologists?
- 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 10%. 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 Microbiologists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 80% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 76% of the working time, 7% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.83 of 3. One example: Copan WASPLab / WASP / PhenoMATRIX for "provide laboratory services for health departments, community environmental health programs, and physicians needing information for diagnosis and treatment". 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 14 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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This occupation has not been reviewed task by task yet, so the full personal report is not offered for it; 402 of 923 occupations are reviewed so far, largest first.