Optometrists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 20% 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 80% of the time, stays with people.
Diagnose, manage, and treat conditions and diseases of the human eye and visual system. Examine eyes and visual system, diagnose problems or impairments, prescribe corrective lenses, and provide treatment. May prescribe therapeutic drugs to treat specific eye conditions.
42,790 people do this job in the US. $136,570 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on8 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people32 h
Optometrists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 8 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 32 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Analyze test results and develop a treatment plan (about 5 h); Prescribe therapeutic procedures to correct or conserve vision (about 2 h); Prescribe medications to treat eye diseases if state laws permit (about 1 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.
- 20%
- 12%
- 68%
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, 5%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 20%. Today's estimate: 20%.
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 10 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.011% to 0.012% (released February and March 2025); 0.0074% to 0.015% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.011% | 523 of 708 | 2 of 10 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.012% | 482 of 703 | 2 of 10 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0074% | 491 of 655 | 2 of 10 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.01% | 478 of 672 | 2 of 10 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.015% | 435 of 677 | 3 of 10 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 10 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 10 |
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 66% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 34%
- No robot shown 66%
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 . 10 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Examine eyes, using observation, instruments, and pharmaceutical agents, to determine visual acuity and perception, focus, and coordination and to diagnose diseases and other abnormalities, such as glaucoma or color blindness.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 33% | 33 min21 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Prescribe, supply, fit and adjust eyeglasses, contact lenses, and other vision aids.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 23% | 29 min17 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Analyze test results and develop a treatment plan.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 11% | 13 min8 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Educate and counsel patients on contact lens care, visual hygiene, lighting arrangements, and safety factors.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 13 min8 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Provide vision therapy and low-vision rehabilitation.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Prescribe therapeutic procedures to correct or conserve vision.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min13 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Provide patients undergoing eye surgeries, such as cataract and laser vision correction, with pre- and post-operative care.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 25 min17 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Prescribe medications to treat eye diseases if state laws permit.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 3% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Consult with and refer patients to ophthalmologist or other health care practitioner if additional medical treatment is determined necessary.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 13 min8 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove foreign bodies from the eye.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 0.4% | 17 min8 min to 33 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).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Optometrists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 20% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 20% 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 Optometrists 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: Analyze test results and develop a treatment plan (100% of the task's time now); Prescribe therapeutic procedures to correct or conserve vision (100% of the task's time now); and Prescribe medications to treat eye diseases if state laws permit (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Optometrists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Examine eyes, using observation, instruments, and pharmaceutical agents, to determine visual acuity and perception, focus, and coordination and to diagnose diseases and other abnormalities, such as glaucoma or color blindness; Prescribe, supply, fit and adjust eyeglasses, contact lenses, and other vision aids; and Educate and counsel patients on contact lens care, visual hygiene, lighting arrangements, and safety factors. Together such tasks are about 80% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Optometrists?
- 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 Optometrists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 66% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. 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 10 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.