Will AI replace Orthoptists?

What this score means

Orthoptists leans toward the safer end for Healthcare. Parts of the role touch tasks AI is getting good at, but the core still depends on hands-on work or judgment that resists automation. At 31 out of 100 it scores 5 points above the Healthcare average of 26. Across the 4 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 20 to 43, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Orthoptists, most central first, showing 12 of 16.

• 01Examine patients with problems related to ocular motility, binocular vision, amblyopia, or strabismus.
• 02Evaluate, diagnose, or treat disorders of the visual system with an emphasis on binocular vision or abnormal eye movements.
• 03Provide instructions to patients or family members concerning diagnoses or treatment plans.
• 04Perform diagnostic tests or measurements, such as motor testing, visual acuity testing, lensometry, retinoscopy, and color vision testing.
• 05Provide nonsurgical interventions, including corrective lenses, patches, drops, fusion exercises, or stereograms, to treat conditions such as strabismus, heterophoria, and convergence insufficiency.
• 06Develop nonsurgical treatment plans for patients with conditions such as strabismus, nystagmus, and other visual disorders.
• 07Interpret clinical or diagnostic test results.
• 08Develop or use special test and communication techniques to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of children or patients with disabilities.
• 09Provide training related to clinical methods or orthoptics to students, resident physicians, or other health professionals.
• 10Refer patients to ophthalmic surgeons or other physicians.
• 11Prepare diagnostic or treatment reports for other medical practitioners or therapists.
• 12Collaborate with ophthalmologists, optometrists, or other specialists in the diagnosis, treatment, or management of conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, and retinal diseases.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 4 research sources that scored Orthoptists for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026
• 02Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure · 2025
• 03GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
• 04AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

Also covers

Certified Orthoptist · Clinical Orthoptist (CO) · Orthoptist

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