Chemists

Write technical papers or reports or prepare standards and specifications for processes, facilities, products, or tests.

AI: Fully automatable - Generative models and domain tools can draft technical papers, reports, standards, and specifications from data and literature to a high standard, enabling full automation of the writing task given adequate inputs and review.

Purchase laboratory supplies, such as chemicals, when supplies are low or near their expiration date.

AI: Fully automatable - Inventory tracking, expiry monitoring, and automated procurement workflows are readily automatable and can be fully handled by integrated AI systems tied to purchasing platforms.

Analyze organic or inorganic compounds to determine chemical or physical properties, composition, structure, relationships, or reactions, using chromatography, spectroscopy, or spectrophotometry techniques.

AI: Partial - AI can interpret chromatography and spectroscopy outputs to determine composition and properties, but cannot operate instruments or prepare samples without lab automation and human oversight.

Conduct quality control tests.

AI: Partial - AI can automate analysis, flag anomalies, and control QC workflows in many settings, but physical sample handling and some on-site tests still require humans or specialized robotics and supervision.

Maintain laboratory instruments to ensure proper working order and troubleshoot malfunctions when needed.

AI: Partial - AI can provide diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and remote troubleshooting guidance for lab instruments, but it cannot perform hands-on repairs without human technicians or robotic manipulators.

Prepare test solutions, compounds, or reagents for laboratory personnel to conduct tests.

AI: Partial - AI can design protocols and control automated liquid-handling systems to prepare reagents in equipped labs, but cannot universally perform physical reagent preparation without robotic hardware and oversight.

Induce changes in composition of substances by introducing heat, light, energy, or chemical catalysts for quantitative or qualitative analysis.

AI: Partial - AI can design procedures, control automated equipment, and analyze results for inducing compositional changes, but cannot perform manual experimental manipulations in a typical lab environment without robotic actuators and human supervision.

Evaluate laboratory safety procedures to ensure compliance with standards or to make improvements as needed.

AI: Partial - AI can analyze written procedures and regulatory requirements to flag gaps and suggest improvements but cannot perform physical inspections or fully judge site-specific practices, so it can only partially automate this task.

Compile and analyze test information to determine process or equipment operating efficiency or to diagnose malfunctions.

AI: Partial - AI can compile and analyze instrument and test data to detect trends and diagnose common malfunctions, but complex, context-dependent diagnostics and hands-on verification still require human expertise.

Confer with scientists or engineers to conduct analyses of research projects, interpret test results, or develop nonstandard tests.

AI: Partial - AI can contribute analyses, interpret results, and propose nonstandard tests in collaboration, but it cannot fully replace the nuanced, interactive scientific judgement and experimental decision-making of human scientists and engineers.

Develop, improve, or customize products, equipment, formulas, processes, or analytical methods.

AI: Partial - AI can assist in design, optimization, and virtual screening of products, equipment, and methods, but physical development, iterative experimental validation, and practical implementation still require humans.

Direct, coordinate, or advise personnel in test procedures for analyzing components or physical properties of materials.

AI: Partial - AI can generate procedures, training, and real-time advice for personnel, but authoritative direction, on-site coordination, and contextual leadership in the lab remain human responsibilities.

Study effects of various methods of processing, preserving, or packaging on composition or properties of foods.

AI: Partial - AI can design experiments and analyze data about processing, preservation, and packaging effects, but it cannot execute physical food-processing experiments, sensory testing, or full validation autonomously.