Museum Technicians and Conservators
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 32% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 61% of the time, stays with people.
Restore, maintain, or prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit. May work with specimens such as fossils, skeletal parts, or botanicals; or artifacts, textiles, or art. May identify and record objects or install and arrange them in exhibits. Includes book or document conservators.
12,310 people do this job in the US. $51,440 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet12 h
- Stays with people25 h
Museum Technicians and Conservators, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 12 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 25 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare reports on the operation of conservation laboratories, documenting the condition of artifacts, treatment options, and the methods of preservation and repair used (about 2 h); Recommend preservation procedures, such as control of temperature and humidity, to curatorial and building staff (under an hour); Estimate cost of restoration work (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.
- 39%
- 0%
- 61%
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, 3%. 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 24 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.031% to 0.042% (released February and March 2025); 0.018% to 0.031% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.031% | 358 of 708 | 5 of 24 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.042% | 295 of 703 | 8 of 24 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.018% | 379 of 655 | 2 of 24 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.026% | 346 of 672 | 5 of 24 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.031% | 323 of 677 | 6 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 76% of this job's working time as physical work. For 14% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 14% in a purpose-built cell. 0.14 of 3, the 489th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 24%
- No robot shown 62%
- In a purpose-built cell 14%
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 1.3 work days1.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Specialize in particular materials or types of object, such as documents and books, paintings, decorative arts, textiles, metals, or architectural materials.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.5 work weeks | 5%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Plan and conduct research to develop and improve methods of restoring and preserving specimens.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, A-Lab (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | 5%Half by Apr 2028 | |
| Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Study object documentation or conduct standard chemical and physical tests to ascertain the object's age, composition, original appearance, need for treatment or restoration, and appropriate preservation method.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 3.3 h50 min to 2.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Perform tests and examinations to establish storage and conservation requirements, policies, and procedures.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Aramis robotic-arm MA-XRF scanner (INFN CHNet / Roma Tre) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 5 h1.3 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Clean objects, such as paper, textiles, wood, metal, glass, rock, pottery, and furniture, using cleansers, solvents, soap solutions, and polishes.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 2.5 h38 min to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Prepare reports on the operation of conservation laboratories, documenting the condition of artifacts, treatment options, and the methods of preservation and repair used.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 1 work day | 92%Half by now | |
| Direct and supervise curatorial, technical, and student staff in the handling, mounting, care, and storage of art objects.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Determine whether objects need repair and choose the safest and most effective method of repair.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Supervise and work with volunteers.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Coordinate exhibit installations, assisting with design, constructing displays, dioramas, display cases, and models, and ensuring the availability of necessary materials.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, HOMAG robot cells (CNC nesting / handling / assembly automation) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 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 Museum Technicians and Conservators is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 9% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 32% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (19% to 38% 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 Museum Technicians and Conservators 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 reports on the operation of conservation laboratories, documenting the condition of artifacts, treatment options, and the methods of preservation and repair used (92% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Recommend preservation procedures, such as control of temperature and humidity, to curatorial and building staff (96% of the task's time now); and Estimate cost of restoration work (98% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Museum Technicians and Conservators stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Repair, restore, and reassemble artifacts, designing and fabricating missing or broken parts, to restore them to their original appearance and prevent deterioration; Install, arrange, assemble, and prepare artifacts for exhibition, ensuring the artifacts' safety, reporting their status and condition, and identifying and correcting any problems with the set up; and Study object documentation or conduct standard chemical and physical tests to ascertain the object's age, composition, original appearance, need for treatment or restoration, and appropriate preservation method. Together such tasks are about 61% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Museum Technicians and Conservators?
- 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 0%. 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 Museum Technicians and Conservators?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 76% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 14% of the working time. Its index is 0.14 of 3. One example: A-Lab for "plan and conduct research to develop and improve methods of restoring and preserving specimens". 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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