Photonics Technicians
Architecture and Engineering Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 17-3029.08
Build, install, test, or maintain optical or fiber optic equipment, such as lasers, lenses, or mirrors, using spectrometers, interferometers, or related equipment.
AI exposure
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
High· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.26–0.32· 4 ISCO-08 groups
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
ILO value for each linked ISCO-08 group
- ISCO-08 3115Mechanical Engineering Technicians0.26
- ISCO-08 3116Chemical Engineering Technicians0.32
- ISCO-08 3117Mining and metallurgical technicians0.28
- ISCO-08 3119Physical and Engineering Science Technicians Not Elsewhere Classified0.26
AI exposure (OpenAI rubric)
30 rated tasks · 10 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (33.3%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- 6 rated tasks are not in the O*NET 31.0 task list; their scores are kept as published for O*NET 27.2.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
Tasks
Task statements from the O*NET® 31.0 Database, core tasks first.
| Task | Type | β (OpenAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor inventory levels and order supplies as necessary. | Core | 0.5 |
| Maintain clean working environments, according to clean room standards. | Core | 0 |
| Test or perform failure analysis for optomechanical or optoelectrical products, according to test plans. | Core | 0 |
| Assist scientists or engineers in the conduct of photonic experiments. | Core | 0.5 |
| Assist engineers in the development of new products, fixtures, tools, or processes. | Core | 0.5 |
| Set up or operate prototype or test apparatus, such as control consoles, collimators, recording equipment, or cables. | Core | 0 |
| Set up or operate assembly or processing equipment, such as lasers, cameras, die bonders, wire bonders, dispensers, reflow ovens, soldering irons, die shears, wire pull testers, temperature or humidity chambers, or optical spectrum analyzers. | Core | 0 |
| Adjust or maintain equipment, such as lasers, laser systems, microscopes, oscilloscopes, pulse generators, power meters, beam analyzers, or energy measurement devices. | Core | 0 |
| Compute or record photonic test data. | Core | 1 |
| Document procedures, such as calibration of optical or fiber optic equipment. | Core | 1 |
| Recommend optical or optic equipment design or material changes to reduce costs or processing times. | Core | 0.5 |
| Perform diagnostic analyses of processing steps, using analytical or metrological tools, such as microscopy, profilometry, or ellipsometry devices. | Supplemental | 0.5 |
| Mix, pour, or use processing chemicals or gases according to safety standards or established operating procedures. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Design, build, or modify fixtures used to assemble parts. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Lay out cutting lines for machining, using drafting tools. | Supplemental | 0.5 |
| Assemble or adjust parts or related electrical units of prototypes to prepare for testing. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Splice fibers, using fusion splicing or other techniques. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Terminate, cure, polish, or test fiber cables with mechanical connectors. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Repair or calibrate products, such as surgical lasers. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Fabricate devices, such as optoelectronic or semiconductor devices. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Build prototype optomechanical devices for use in equipment such as aerial cameras, gun sights, or telescopes. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Assemble fiber optical, optoelectronic, or free-space optics components, subcomponents, assemblies, or subassemblies. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Assemble components of energy-efficient optical communications systems involving photonic switches, optical backplanes, or optoelectronic interfaces. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Optimize photonic process parameters by making prototype or production devices. | Supplemental | 0 |
Occupation information
Sources and attribution
This page includes information from the O*NET® 31.0 Database (https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html) by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI Changing Work has modified all or some of this information: the O*NET-SOC code, title and task statements are reproduced in English without change; task-type labels are shown in the page's language and tasks are listed core first; any Korean occupation title shown on the Korean-language page is AI Changing Work's translation; any KSCO-8 unit groups linked to this occupation were paired with it by AI Changing Work's judgment, and the relation labels and statuses are AI Changing Work's additions. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Any AI exposure figures on this page are published by third parties, not by AI Changing Work, and none is part of the O*NET information. OpenAI publishes task-level scores (MIT License) for O*NET 27.2 task statements; each is shown next to the O*NET 31.0 task statement with the same task ID, whose wording can differ from the 27.2 statement that was scored. OpenAI also publishes occupation-level scores for O*NET-SOC codes in the same release, and any such score is shown on the O*NET occupation with the same code. Anthropic publishes an observed exposure index in the Anthropic Economic Index (CC-BY), and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes relative AI exposure categories (public domain); both are published per SOC code, and each value is shown on every O*NET occupation with that code. The International Labour Organization publishes a generative AI exposure index in ILO Working Paper 140 (CC BY 4.0) for ISCO-08 unit groups; AI Changing Work links those groups to O*NET occupations by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC and 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC crosswalks as published, without case-by-case selection, and these crosswalks match many groups only in part. Where several unit groups are linked, each group's published value is listed, and any summary shows only the lowest and highest of those values with the number of groups; no exposure figure is averaged or recalculated. Any employment figures are published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the SOC group containing this occupation. Each source is credited where its figures are shown.
O*NET OnLine: 17-3029.08 Photonics Technicians
KSCO 코드·명칭: 한국표준직업분류(제8차 개정) — 통계청 고시 제2024-328호 (2024-07-01 고시, 2025-01-01 시행). 저작권법 제7조 제2호의 고시 항목이다. 명칭 표기(가운뎃점·띄어쓰기)는 해설서 2차 정오 반영판의 표기를 따랐으며, 고시 항목표와는 18개 명칭에서 가운뎃점 글리프나 띄어쓰기만 다르다. 통계청은 2025년 10월 국가데이터처로 개편되었다. 이 페이지의 KSCO 연결은 통계청·국가데이터처의 공식 연계표가 아니다.