Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
Assist ophthalmologists by performing ophthalmic clinical functions. May administer eye exams, administer eye medications, and instruct the patient in care and use of corrective lenses.
71,010 people do this job in the US. $45,570 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 9%
- 2%
- 89%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h 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, 5%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 9%. 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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operate ophthalmic equipment, such as autorefractors, phoropters, tomographs, or retinoscopes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 14% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Conduct ocular motility tests to measure function of eye muscles.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Conduct tonometry or tonography tests to measure intraocular pressure.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Take and document patients' medical histories.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 9% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Measure visual acuity, including near, distance, pinhole, or dynamic visual acuity, using appropriate tests.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Conduct visual field tests to measure field of vision.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Take anatomical or functional ocular measurements of the eye or surrounding tissue, such as axial length measurements.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Measure and record lens power, using lensometers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 6 min3 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Assess refractive conditions of eyes, using retinoscopes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Assist physicians in performing ophthalmic procedures, including surgery.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 29 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Measure corneal curvature with keratometers or ophthalmometers to aid in the diagnosis of conditions, such as astigmatism.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Administer topical ophthalmic or oral medications.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 4 min3 min to 8 min | 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).