Photonics Technicians
In short: today's best AI models could do about 15% 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 16% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 84% of the time, stays with people.
Build, install, test, or maintain optical or fiber optic equipment, such as lasers, lenses, or mirrors, using spectrometers, interferometers, or related equipment.
$78,350 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 on6 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people34 h
Photonics Technicians, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 6 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 34 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Recommend optical or optic equipment design or material changes to reduce costs or processing times (about 3 h); Compute or record photonic test data (about 2 h); Document procedures, such as calibration of optical or fiber optic equipment (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.
- 16%
- 0%
- 84%
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, 8%. Today's estimate: 15%.
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: 0.0042% to 0.013% (released February and March 2025); 0.0045% to 0.0031% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0042% | 631 of 708 | 1 of 24 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.013% | 473 of 703 | 2 of 24 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0045% | 544 of 655 | 2 of 24 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0061% | 550 of 672 | 2 of 24 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0031% | 609 of 677 | 1 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 85% of this job's working time as physical work. For 80% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 80% in a purpose-built cell. 0.80 of 3, the 224th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 15%
- No robot shown 5%
- In a purpose-built cell 80%
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 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabricate devices, such as optoelectronic or semiconductor devices.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Bosch Dresden AIoT wafer fab (AMHS plus automated process tool set) (Robert Bosch GmbH) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Assist engineers in the development of new products, fixtures, tools, or processes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, OptoMate (AI-Driven Robotics for Optics) (MIT) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Build prototype optomechanical devices for use in equipment such as aerial cameras, gun sights, or telescopes.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, OptoMate (AI-driven robotics platform for free-space optics) (MIT) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Assemble fiber optical, optoelectronic, or free-space optics components, subcomponents, assemblies, or subassemblies.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RTS Wright fiber-optic pigtail assembly system with Epson EC350 SCARA robot (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Recommend optical or optic equipment design or material changes to reduce costs or processing times.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 7% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | 91%Half by now | |
| Set up or operate assembly or processing equipment, such as lasers, cameras, die bonders, wire bonders, dispensers, reflow ovens, soldering irons, die shears, wire pull testers, temperature or humidity chambers, or optical spectrum analyzers.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ficonTEC ASSEMBLYLINE (a800/a1200/a1600) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Adjust or maintain equipment, such as lasers, laser systems, microscopes, oscilloscopes, pulse generators, power meters, beam analyzers, or energy measurement devices.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RL fiber-coupling alignment agent (SAC/TQC) on a motorized two-mirror optics setup (Leibniz University Hannover (Institute for Gravitational Physics / Institute for Theoretical Physics) with TU Delft) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Test or perform failure analysis for optomechanical or optoelectrical products, according to test plans.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ficonTEC TESTLINE / WAFER TESTLINE photonic device testing machines (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Compute or record photonic test data.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Optimize photonic process parameters by making prototype or production devices.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, ficonTEC AssemblyLine / Lambda machine platforms (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Document procedures, such as calibration of optical or fiber optic equipment.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h50 min to 4.2 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Assist scientists or engineers in the conduct of photonic experiments.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, AI-Driven Robotics for Optics platform (xArm7 + optics agent + fine-alignment tool) (MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.7 h50 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.
- Photonics Engineers14% now, 56% by 2028
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians39% now, 48% by 2028
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians37% now, 55% by 2028
- Robotics Technicians22% now, 26% by 2028
- Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians35% now, 53% by 2028
- Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians10% now, 21% by 2028
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 Photonics Technicians is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 15% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 16% 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 Photonics Technicians 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: Recommend optical or optic equipment design or material changes to reduce costs or processing times (91% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Compute or record photonic test data (100% of the task's time now); and Document procedures, such as calibration of optical or fiber optic equipment (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Photonics Technicians stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Fabricate devices, such as optoelectronic or semiconductor devices; Assist engineers in the development of new products, fixtures, tools, or processes; and Build prototype optomechanical devices for use in equipment such as aerial cameras, gun sights, or telescopes. Together such tasks are about 84% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Photonics Technicians?
- 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 Photonics Technicians?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 85% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 80% of the working time. Its index is 0.80 of 3. One example: Bosch Dresden AIoT wafer fab (AMHS plus automated process tool set) for "fabricate devices, such as optoelectronic or semiconductor devices". 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.
This job in your state or metro area
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.
Your own version of this job
The page above is the occupation. Your job is your title and what you actually do: give both, and they are read against these tasks in your browser, nothing sent anywhere. The headline is free: how much of your working time is within reach now and by the end of 2028, and how many of the tasks your description names.
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.