# Will animal scientists be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Animal scientists score 48 out of 100 for AI exposure. AI helps with 96% of their task time, and they stay in charge. The other 4% needs a person. - **96%** AI helps - **4%** Needs a person Moderate exposure Higher than 70% of the 923 jobs we scored. ## Task by task We graded 9 tasks, most exposed first. AI can't fully do any of them yet. It helps with 8 and leaves 1 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Write up or orally communicate research findings to the scientific community, producers, and the public. AI drafts papers and reports well; oral talks and outreach stay human. | 60% AI helps | | Determine genetic composition of animal populations and heritability of traits, using principles of genetics. Statistical genetics and heritability estimation are code-heavy and AI-assisted. | 55% AI helps | | Study nutritional requirements of animals and nutritive values of animal feed materials. AI speeds feed literature review and ration calculations; lab sampling stays manual. | 45% AI helps | | Study effects of management practices, processing methods, feed, or environmental conditions on quality and quantity of animal products, such as eggs and milk. AI can analyze production data; collecting quality samples needs people. | 40% AI helps | | Develop improved practices in feeding, housing, sanitation, or parasite and disease control of animals. AI can help design protocols; on-farm trials need people present. | 35% AI helps | ## How animal scientists compare All jobs (923) Life, physical and social science (60) The dark line is **animal scientists, at 48**. Each dot is a score, and darker dots mean more jobs share it. The short marks are the averages, 37 for all jobs and 47 for life, physical and social science. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $68,940 a year, May 2025 People employed 3,100 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +5.8% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Run heritability estimation and genetic evaluation in SAS - Build ration formulations and feed calculations in Microsoft Excel - Design on-farm trials with producers and veterinarians - Query herd and trial records using Structured query language SQL - Present findings to producers in Microsoft PowerPoint ## Safer roles nearby 5 related jobs with lower scores. - [Soil scientists41 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/soil-scientists/) - [Microbiologists40 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/microbiologists/) - [Farm managers36 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/farm-managers/) - [Veterinarians33 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/veterinarians/) - [Agriculture professors45 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/agriculture-professors/) ## Questions about animal scientists and AI Will AI replace animal scientists? Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly writing up research findings and statistical genetics. Breeding decisions, animal handling, and on-farm trials stay with people. Which tasks are AI taking over for animal scientists? Writing up findings has the highest exposure score at 60, because AI drafts papers and reports well. Estimating heritability follows at 55, since statistical genetics is code-heavy and AI assists the analysis. Nutrition studies at 45 also shift, as AI speeds feed literature review and ration calculations. Which tasks stay human for animal scientists? Crossbreeding has the lowest exposure score at 8, because physical mating and handling live animals needs a person. Producer consultations score 30 and remain interpersonal. Collecting egg and milk quality samples also stays manual, so the people doing it keep their work. How can animal scientists stay valuable as AI spreads? Take responsibility for the statistical genetics pipeline in SAS, since heritability work is code-heavy. Keep on-farm trials and animal handling in your hands. Pair feed ration calculations in Excel with lab sampling you run yourself, and explain results to producers in person. ## Related jobs - [Food scientists50 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-scientists/) - [Biochemists44 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/biochemists/) - [Geneticists51 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/geneticists/) - [Biologists51 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/biologists/) ## Next steps for animal scientists - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV to see which tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) - ### Estimate team savings The score is per person. Add headcount and salary to see the hours AI can take on in a team of animal scientists, and what they cost. [Estimate what AI saves a team of animal scientists](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/team-ai-audit/?role=animal-scientists) [Work out the return on automation](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-savings-calculator/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Roustabouts score lowest, at 6.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Pediatric surgeons earn a median $559,030 and score 29.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Roustabouts need little prior training and score 6.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**AI helps with 98% of the task time for health informatics specialists.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we score, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 job groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Sources and licences Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.