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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3141

Life science technicians (excluding medical)

Life science technicians (excluding medical) provide technical support to life science professionals undertaking research, analysis and testing of living organisms, and development and application of products and processes resulting from research in areas such as natural resource management, environmental protection, plant and animal biology, microbiology, and cell and molecular biology. Tasks include - (a) assisting in designing, setting up and conducting experiments; (b) setting up, calibrating, operating and maintaining laboratory instruments and equipment; (c) collecting and preparing specimens and samples, chemical solutions and slides and growing cultures for use in experiments; (d) performing routine field and laboratory tests; (e) monitoring experiments to ensure adherence to correct laboratory quality control procedures and health and safety guidelines; (f) making observations of tests and analysing, calculating, recording and reporting test results using appropriate scientific methods; (g) preserving, classifying and cataloguing specimens and samples; (h) keeping detailed logs of worked performed; (i) using computers to develop models and analyse data; (j) using complex and high-powered equipment to perform work; (k) participating in the research, development and manufacture of products and processes; (l) ordering and stocking laboratory supplies; (m) maintaining relevant databases. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Bacteriology technician - Biochemistry technician - Herbarium technician - Pharmacology technician - Serology technician - Tissue culture technician - Zoology technician Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Forensic science technician - 3119 - Medical laboratory technician - 3212 - Pathology laboratory technician - 3212 - Pharmaceutical technician - 3213

The mildest of the ILO’s four “exposed” groups. It ranks 313 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • scientific laboratory technician
  • biotechnical technician

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

61.9
Holds up
against AI Exposed: Gradient 1

AI could take on 38.1 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 38.1 = 61.9

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

52.1
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 2 US jobs

36.8
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 42 · hand skill 41.1 · cramped spaces 27.5 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4 Hands-on, less fiddly work

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 52.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, and for work like this robots are the bigger question.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 70.5, while the average is 38.1. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 70.5

    Using computers to develop models and analyse data

    Medium
  2. 62.5

    Maintaining relevant databases.

    Medium
  3. 61

    Making observations of tests and analysing, calculating, recording and reporting test results using appropriate scientific methods

    Medium
  4. 48

    Keeping detailed logs of worked performed

    Low
  5. 42

    Participating in the research, development and manufacture of products and processes

    Low
  6. 38

    Preserving, classifying and cataloguing specimens and samples

    Low
  7. 34

    Assisting in designing, setting up and conducting experiments

    Low
  8. 30.5

    Monitoring experiments to ensure adherence to correct laboratory quality control procedures and health and safety guidelines

    Low
  9. 29.8

    Ordering and stocking laboratory supplies

    Low
  10. 25

    Collecting and preparing specimens and samples, chemical solutions and slides and growing cultures for use in experiments

    Low
  11. 24

    Performing routine field and laboratory tests

    Very Low
  12. 19.8

    Setting up, calibrating, operating and maintaining laboratory instruments and equipment

    Very Low
  13. 10.5

    Using complex and high-powered equipment to perform work

    Very Low

13 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

AI helps you
72
AI does it for you
40

Helping wins by 32 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3114

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.4. This one is below that.