RU

Occupation · 2026 assessment

Fotolaborant

Fotolaborant is an occupation responsible for testable questions, reliable evidence and interpretation of results in a scientific field. The profile assesses automation of individual tasks rather than disappearance of the whole occupation.

Moderate risk level Search jobs ↗
How risk may change

A forecast estimate, not a guaranteed scenario.

43%2026
46%2028
50%2030
56%2035

Which tasks are exposed

Risk applies to individual tasks—not to a person or an entire occupation.

TaskRisk
Searching and organizing scientific literature68%
Cleaning and preprocessing data68%
Standard statistical analysis65%
Generating hypotheses and experiment options56%
Conducting a non-standard experiment22%
Result interpretation and scientific accountability30%

Task map

AI replaces ↔ AI augments

Each task is positioned by AI capability and the degree of human involvement still required.

  1. 1Searching and organizing scientific literatureAI 68% · human 60%
  2. 2Cleaning and preprocessing dataAI 68% · human 66%
  3. 3Standard statistical analysisAI 65% · human 60%
  4. 4Generating hypotheses and experiment optionsAI 56% · human 57%
  5. 5Conducting a non-standard experimentAI 22% · human 82%
  6. 6Result interpretation and scientific accountabilityAI 30% · human 69%

Why technology can change this work

  • AI accelerates pattern discovery and experimental analysis
  • laboratory platforms automate repetitive procedures
  • the main inputs and outputs already exist in a digital environment
  • models generate hypotheses and candidate materials or molecules

What protects the occupation

  • framing meaningful research questions
  • causality and evidence-quality assessment
  • a large share of value comes from human judgement, trust or personal accountability
  • methodological and interpretive accountability

United States · before tax

Average pay and outlook

Estimated nominal monthly pay. The scenario reflects sector, demand and task resilience; it is not a guarantee of income.

2026$8 700per month
2035$11 750scenario estimate
2026: $8 70020262027: $9 00020272028: $9 30020282029: $9 60020292030: $9 95020302031: $10 30020312032: $10 65020322033: $11 00020332034: $11 35020342035: $11 7502035
Find jobs ↗The partner link may contain referral parameters. Data benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ↗

Practical next step

Where to move next

Do not restart from zero: carry your experience forward and add scarce skills.

Data Analyst

Established resilient role
New role risk51%
DemandMediumDifficultyMediumTime6–12 monthsSkill fit70%

AI Evaluation Engineer

Emerging role
New role risk16%
DemandHighDifficultyMediumTime6–12 monthsSkill fit70%

Materials Discovery Specialist

Emerging role
New role risk13%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit85%

Bioinformatics Pipeline Engineer

Emerging role
New role risk13%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit83%

Synthetic Biology Process Engineer

Emerging role
New role risk14%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit81%

Dataset Curator

Emerging role
New role risk34%
DemandHighDifficultyLowTime3–6 monthsSkill fit81%

Job search and transitions

Find work with a lower risk index

Compare adjacent paths and open a current search for the selected occupation.

Skills you already have

  • research methodology
  • critical analysis
  • experimental work
  • data interpretation

Skills to build

  • computational methods
  • laboratory automation
  • reproducible research
  • scientific AI-model validation
CurrentFotolaborant · 43%
→
Keepresearch methodology · critical analysis · experimental work
→
Addcomputational methods · laboratory automation · reproducible research

Sources and update

Updated: 2026-09-26 · Assessment confidence: Medium

International Labour Organization · 2025Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure

Nearly 30,000 tasks; a global assessment of GenAI exposure across detailed occupational groups.

World Economic Forum · 2025The Future of Jobs Report 2025

A survey of more than 1,000 employers representing over 14 million workers across 55 economies.

O*NET Resource Center · 2026O*NET Database

Occupational, task, skill and work-context structure.