Develop instrumentation and software for astronomical observation and analysis.

“Develop instrumentation and software for astronomical observation and analysis.” is a core task performed by Astronomers. Among the occupation's 17 rated tasks, workers place it 9th by importance (#9 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.

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

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time 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 0.50. Automation potential label: T2.

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.

• 0.023% share of AI-use records mapped to this task
• 39% of that use is work-related
• Most common interaction: directive
• Average autonomy of the AI: 3.6 (1–5; higher = more autonomous)
• 78% of interactions still needed a human in the loop

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.

Working with AI vs. handing it off

Of the AI conversations mapped to this task, the split between people working alongside AI and people delegating the task to it.

How people interact with AI on this task

Other tasks in this occupation

• Analyze research data to determine its significance, using computers. · importance 4.7
• Present research findings at scientific conferences and in papers written for scientific journals. · importance 4.7
• Study celestial phenomena, using a variety of ground-based and space-borne telescopes and scientific instruments. · importance 4.5
• Collaborate with other astronomers to carry out research projects. · importance 4.4
• Mentor graduate students and junior colleagues. · importance 4.4
• Supervise students' research on celestial and astronomical phenomena. · importance 4.2
• Teach astronomy or astrophysics. · importance 4.1
• Develop theories based on personal observations or on observations and theories of other astronomers. · importance 4.1
• Measure radio, infrared, gamma, and x-ray emissions from extraterrestrial sources. · importance 4.0
• Review scientific proposals and research papers. · importance 3.8
• Raise funds for scientific research. · importance 3.8
• Develop and modify astronomy-related programs for public presentation. · importance 3.5
• Serve on professional panels and committees. · importance 3.3
• Calculate orbits and determine sizes, shapes, brightness, and motions of different celestial bodies. · importance 3.3

See all tasks on the Astronomers 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-7531,
  title  = {Develop instrumentation and software for astronomical observation and analysis.},
  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-7531}
}