Will AI replace Chemical Technicians?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
39/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 60% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 27% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 49% of the work
What the job involves
Conduct chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous materials for research and development of new products or processes, quality control, maintenance of environmental standards, and other work involving experimental, theoretical, or practical application of chemistry and related sciences.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(5)
- Compile and interpret results of tests and analyses.
- Provide technical support or assistance to chemists or engineers.
- Write technical reports or prepare graphs or charts to document experimental results.
- Set up and conduct chemical experiments, tests, and analyses, using techniques such as chromatography, spectroscopy, physical or chemical separation techniques, or microscopy.
- Develop new chemical engineering processes or production techniques.
Within reach(5)
- Monitor product quality to ensure compliance with standards and specifications.
- Prepare chemical solutions for products or processes, following standardized formulas, or create experimental formulas.
- Train new employees on topics such as the proper operation of laboratory equipment.
- Order and inventory materials to maintain supplies.
- Design or fabricate experimental apparatus to develop new products or processes.
Out of reach(6)
- Maintain, clean, or sterilize laboratory instruments or equipment.
- Conduct chemical or physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative or quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, or gaseous materials.
- Provide and maintain a safe work environment by participating in safety programs, committees, or teams and by conducting laboratory or plant safety audits.
- Develop or conduct programs of sampling and analysis to maintain quality standards of raw materials, chemical intermediates, or products.
- Operate experimental pilot plants, assisting with experimental design.
and 1 more
Also called
Laboratory Technician (Lab Tech) · Chemical Laboratory Technician (Chemical Lab Technician) · Chemical Lab Technician · Formulator · Lab Tech · Chemical Technician · Assayer · Laboratory Tester (Lab Tester)
Related jobs
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