Maintain laboratory instruments to ensure proper working order and troubleshoot malfunctions when needed.

“Maintain laboratory instruments to ensure proper working order and troubleshoot malfunctions when needed.” is a core task performed by Chemists. Among the occupation's 13 rated tasks, workers place it 8th by importance (#6 most important). About 96% 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.

• Maintain electronic, computer, or other technical equipment. in Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

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 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

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.

• 0.002% 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

• Develop, improve, or customize products, equipment, formulas, processes, or analytical methods. · importance 4.2
• Analyze organic or inorganic compounds to determine chemical or physical properties, composition, structure, relationships, or reactions, using chromatography, spectroscopy, or spectrophotometry techniques. · importance 4.1
• Induce changes in composition of substances by introducing heat, light, energy, or chemical catalysts for quantitative or qualitative analysis. · importance 4.0
• Conduct quality control tests. · importance 3.9
• Write technical papers or reports or prepare standards and specifications for processes, facilities, products, or tests. · importance 3.9
• Prepare test solutions, compounds, or reagents for laboratory personnel to conduct tests. · importance 3.9
• Compile and analyze test information to determine process or equipment operating efficiency or to diagnose malfunctions. · importance 3.9
• Confer with scientists or engineers to conduct analyses of research projects, interpret test results, or develop nonstandard tests. · importance 3.8
• Evaluate laboratory safety procedures to ensure compliance with standards or to make improvements as needed. · importance 3.7
• Direct, coordinate, or advise personnel in test procedures for analyzing components or physical properties of materials. · importance 3.6
• Purchase laboratory supplies, such as chemicals, when supplies are low or near their expiration date. · importance 3.4
• Study effects of various methods of processing, preserving, or packaging on composition or properties of foods.

See all tasks on the Chemists 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-18474,
  title  = {Maintain laboratory instruments to ensure proper working order and troubleshoot malfunctions when needed.},
  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-18474}
}