Will AI replace Biochemists and Biophysicists?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
44/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 71% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 9% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 65% of the work
What the job involves
Study the chemical composition or physical principles of living cells and organisms, their electrical and mechanical energy, and related phenomena. May conduct research to further understanding of the complex chemical combinations and reactions involved in metabolism, reproduction, growth, and heredity. May determine the effects of foods, drugs, serums, hormones, and other substances on tissues and vital processes of living organisms.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(2)
- Prepare reports or recommendations, based upon research outcomes.
- Study the mutations in organisms that lead to cancer or other diseases.
Within reach(14)
- Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences.
- Study physical principles of living cells or organisms and their electrical or mechanical energy, applying methods and knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology.
- Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research.
- Study spatial configurations of submicroscopic molecules, such as proteins, using x-rays or electron microscopes.
- Determine the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules.
and 9 more
Out of reach(8)
- Manage laboratory teams or monitor the quality of a team's work.
- Develop new methods to study the mechanisms of biological processes.
- Teach or advise undergraduate or graduate students or supervise their research.
- Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects.
- Design or perform experiments with equipment, such as lasers, accelerators, or mass spectrometers.
and 3 more
Also called
Biochemist · Scientist · Biological Chemist · Clinical Biochemist · Physical Biochemist · Toxicologist · Analytical Research Chemist · Biophysics Researcher
Related jobs
- Molecular and Cellular Biologists43/100
- Geneticists49/100
- Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists55/100
- Microbiologists31/100
- Chemists38/100
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics