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How exposed to AI is a Opticians, Dispensing?

Of the 21 tasks O*NET lists for opticians, dispensing, 3 could be done in half the time with a chat window today. 14 cannot be sped up at all. Here is which.

Exposure means published research judged an AI could halve the time a task takes, at the same quality. It does not mean the task stops needing a person. How to read this

Also called
Certified OpticianContact Lens TechnicianDispensing OpticianLicensed Dispensing Optician (LDO)Licensed OpticianOphthalmic DispenserOptical TechnicianOpticianOptometric TechnicianRegistered Optician
Reachable today Needs software built first Cannot be sped up
21
tasks rated for this occupation
0%
hold a degree, from a survey of 24
73k
people do this job in the US
64 of 89
least protected in healthcare practitioners

Every task, and what AI can do with it

These are O*NET's task statements for this occupation, exactly as written, sorted into the three bands by the ratings behind this report. Nothing has been reworded.

Reachable with a chat window today

3
  • Recommend specific lenses, lens coatings, and frames to suit client needs
  • Obtain a customer's previous record, or verify a prescription with the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist
  • Perform administrative duties, such as tracking inventory and sales, submitting patient insurance information, and performing simple bookkeeping

Only with software built on top

4
  • Maintain records of customer prescriptions, work orders, and payments
  • Prepare work orders and instructions for grinding lenses and fabricating eyeglasses
  • Sell goods such as contact lenses, spectacles, sunglasses, and goods related to eyes, in general
  • Arrange and maintain displays of optical merchandise

Cannot be sped up

14
  • Measure clients' bridge and eye size, temple length, vertex distance, pupillary distance, and optical centers of eyes, using measuring devices
  • Verify that finished lenses are ground to specifications
  • Evaluate prescriptions in conjunction with clients' vocational and avocational visual requirements
  • Assist clients in selecting frames according to style and color, and ensure that frames are coordinated with facial and eye measurements and optical prescriptions
  • Heat, shape, or bend plastic or metal frames to adjust eyeglasses to fit clients, using pliers and hands
  • Show customers how to insert, remove, and care for their contact lenses
  • Determine clients' current lens prescriptions, when necessary, using lensometers or lens analyzers and clients' eyeglasses
  • Fabricate lenses to meet prescription specifications
  • Assemble eyeglasses by cutting and edging lenses, and fitting the lenses into frames
  • Instruct clients in how to wear and care for eyeglasses
  • Supervise the training of student opticians
  • Order and purchase frames and lenses
  • Grind lens edges, or apply coatings to lenses
  • Repair damaged frames
What this does not say

This is not a prediction about your job

Nobody surveyed an employer. Tasks are counted equally, so a percentage here is a share of the list rather than a share of your week. And the ratings were made in 2023, which makes every figure a floor rather than a ceiling.

It must never be used to select anyone for redundancy. The full limits are here.

Where to go next

This is the standard task list for the title. The useful next question is which of the tasks you actually do should go near AI, and which should not.

Sort your own tasks Read the full report

Exposure ratings from Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs, Science 384, 1306–1308, 2024, used under the MIT licence. This page includes information from the O*NET Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. People Team AI has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Employment figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.