Apply theoretical expertise and innovation to create or apply new technology, such as adapting principles for applying computers to new uses.

“Apply theoretical expertise and innovation to create or apply new technology, such as adapting principles for applying computers to new uses.” is a core task performed by Computer and Information Research Scientists. Among the occupation's 15 rated tasks, workers place it 14th by importance (#2 most important). About 84% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Design computer or information systems or applications. in Thinking Creatively

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E1. Direct exposure — a language model could plausibly cut the time to do this task by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 1.00. Automation potential label: T1.

How AI is actually used on this kind of task

The Anthropic Economic Index observes how people actually use AI on tasks like this one across millions of real conversations.

• 0.003% share of AI-use records mapped to this task

Observed AI use describes people choosing to use AI as a tool on this kind of task today. It is augmentation and assistance, not a measure of jobs replaced.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Analyze problems to develop solutions involving computer hardware and software. · importance 4.2
• Assign or schedule tasks to meet work priorities and goals. · importance 3.8
• Maintain network hardware and software, direct network security measures, and monitor networks to ensure availability to system users. · importance 3.7
• Meet with managers, vendors, and others to solicit cooperation and resolve problems. · importance 3.6
• Design computers and the software that runs them. · importance 3.6
• Conduct logical analyses of business, scientific, engineering, and other technical problems, formulating mathematical models of problems for solution by computers. · importance 3.6
• Evaluate project plans and proposals to assess feasibility issues. · importance 3.5
• Participate in multidisciplinary projects in areas such as virtual reality, human-computer interaction, or robotics. · importance 3.4
• Consult with users, management, vendors, and technicians to determine computing needs and system requirements. · importance 3.4
• Direct daily operations of departments, coordinating project activities with other departments. · importance 3.3
• Develop and interpret organizational goals, policies, and procedures. · importance 3.2
• Develop performance standards, and evaluate work in light of established standards. · importance 3.1
• Participate in staffing decisions and direct training of subordinates. · importance 3.0
• Approve, prepare, monitor, and adjust operational budgets. · importance 2.8

See all tasks on the Computer and Information Research Scientists page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-14626,
  title  = {Apply theoretical expertise and innovation to create or apply new technology, such as adapting principles for applying computers to new uses.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-14626}
}