Somewhat Resilient
Last Update: 8/30/2026
AI Resilience Score for Biological Scientists:
41.6%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
Low
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Med
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
Med
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
Most data sources align, with only minor variation. This is a well-supported result.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forBiological Scientists, All Other
$98,920 median salary•4,300 annual openings•SOC Code: 19-1029.00
Biological Scientists, All Other are somewhat less resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 6 sources.
Biological scientists land in the "Somewhat Resilient" category because AI is genuinely transforming a meaningful chunk of their daily work, including literature review, data analysis, and even parts of experiment design, but the field is not collapsing. Instead, the role is shifting: scientists are becoming orchestrators who guide AI tools, ask the right questions, and judge whether the results actually make sense, and those judgment calls still require a human brain.
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Biological scientists land in the "Somewhat Resilient" category because AI is genuinely transforming a meaningful chunk of their daily work, including literature review, data analysis, and even parts of experiment design, but the field is not collapsing. Instead, the role is shifting: scientists are becoming orchestrators who guide AI tools, ask the right questions, and judge whether the results actually make sense, and those judgment calls still require a human brain.
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View analysisChat with CoachLatest newsMore career infoAnalysisChatNewsMoreAnalysis of Current AI Resilience
Biological Scientists
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Biological Scientists jobs?
Biological scientists are seeing AI show up as a lab partner more than as a replacement. According to the American Institute of Biological Sciences' journal BioScience, "artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the biosciences by increasing the speed, scale, and accessibility of research," with tasks once limited by specialized expertise — from ecosystem modeling to specimen analysis — being reshaped by machine learning, computer vision, and generative tools, as described in its Special Collection on AI in the Biosciences [1]. McKinsey's June 2026 explainer on AI in life sciences [2] describes agentic systems that "read papers, design experiments, order reagents, run experiments on automated machinery, review the outputs, and propose the next round," turning the human scientist into "the orchestrator, not the operator." Trade coverage from GeneOnline in July 2026 [3] similarly shows closed-loop "Design-Build-Test-Learn" cloud labs moving pharmaceutical discovery away from an artisanal, labor-intensive craft.
A June 2026 biotech careers guide [4] notes that routine data cleaning, literature triage, and repetitive pipetting are increasingly automated, while judgment — knowing which question to ask and whether to trust the answer — does not automate easily.
Sources
How fast is AI adoption growing for Biological Scientists?
Adoption is moving fast in industry but is uneven. McKinsey estimates roughly 80% of life-sciences workflows are "agentifiable" with a 5–10% growth uplift when AI is deployed at scale [2], a huge economic pull. KPMG's 2026 Global Tech Report on Life Sciences [5] finds companies "have moved beyond experimentation and into broad adoption of core technologies such as AI," although "value realization remains constrained." Slower factors include heavy regulation, safety and biosecurity concerns, and the need for wet-lab judgment, ethics, and fieldwork adaptability that machines struggle with.
On the labor side, the UK biotech careers analysis [4] reports vacancies grew about 23.7% recently, with bioinformatics and lab-automation roles expanding rather than shrinking. The likely near-term outcome: augmentation dominates, and young scientists who pair biology with data skills will be in demand.
Sources
Will AI replace Biological Scientists?
Not entirely. We think AI will take over some tasks, but not the whole job.
Our 41.6% AI Resilience Score signals real disruption ahead for biological scientists. AI is already reshaping the lab: agentic systems can now read papers, design experiments, run automated machinery, and propose next steps, effectively turning the scientist into an orchestrator rather than an operator [2]. Routine work like data cleaning, literature triage, and repetitive pipetting is increasingly handled by machines, and roughly 80% of life-sciences workflows have been described as "agentifiable" at scale [2].
What stays human is the judgment layer. Knowing which question to ask, whether to trust a result, and how to adapt in the field or navigate ethics does not automate easily [4]. That is where biological scientists need to plant their feet.
The economic picture is mixed but not bleak. Employer demand is moderate through 2034, and this role scores high on adaptive capacity, meaning people in it have real options to pivot as the work evolves. Vacancies in biotech have grown, with bioinformatics and lab-automation roles expanding rather than shrinking [4]. Pair your biology training with data skills and you will be working with AI, not replaced by it.
Sources
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Latest AI news for Biological Scientists
These articles highlight the transformative role of AI in biological sciences, underscoring its potential to enhance research efficiency and innovation. For instance, the use of AI tools like TranscriptFormer and Cytoland can streamline the analysis of cell biology, allowing scientists to focus on groundbreaking discoveries. Additionally, OpenAI's evaluation framework demonstrates how AI can accelerate wet lab research, making it essential for aspiring biological scientists to embrace these technologies. This shift towards AI resilience in biology promises exciting career opportunities and the ability to contribute to significant advancements in the field.
Measuring AI’s capability to accelerate biological research in the wet lab
openai.com • 12/16/2025
OpenAI introduces a real-world evaluation framework to measure how AI can accelerate biological research in the wet lab.
Why We’re Going All In on Biology and AI
chanzuckerberg.com • 6/24/2025
Priscilla Chan on how CZI is using AI to understand cell biology and build tools like TranscriptFormer and Cytoland to accelerate biomedical...
Generative AI tool marks a milestone in biology
news.stanford.edu • 2/19/2025
Trained on a dataset that includes all known living species – and a few extinct ones – Evo 2 can predict the form and function of proteins...
How can we enhance biological research with AI?
sangerinstitute.blog • 12/18/2024
By Katrina Costa, Science Writer at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Advances in AI are rapidly changing biological research, which raises...
AI and the future of generative biology
sangerinstitute.blog • 10/17/2024
By Katrina Costa, Science Writer, Wellcome Sanger Institute. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming biology by enabling researchers to...
More Career Info
Career: Biological Scientists, All Other
They study living things and how they work, conducting experiments and research to discover new information that can improve health, agriculture, or the environment.
Parent Careers
Employment & Wage Data
Median Wage
$98,920
Jobs (2025)
59,600
Growth (2025-35)
+4.7%
Annual Openings
4,300
Education
Bachelor's degree
Experience
None
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025-2035
