Pharmaceutical technicians and assistants
An AI agent can at least partly carry out 45.3% of the task time of pharmaceutical technicians and assistants, and finish 0.0% alone. The barrier that holds most of the rest back is access to the systems the work runs on.
203rd of 433 · interval 22.8–68.6
201st of 433 · interval 0.0–0.0
200th of 433 · interval 27.1–48.9
task statements rated by two models and weighted by importance and frequency. World employment: 4.8 million.
How the tasks rate
What stops the agent
Share of task weight flagged by each barrier; a task can carry several.
| Task statement (O*NET occupation) | Sonnet · Haiku | Barriers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receive written prescription or refill requests and verify that information is complete and accurate.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.8% | L2 | L2L2 | 65% | 5 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Enter prescription information into computer databases.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.7% | L2 | L2L2 | 78% | 4 min | Accountability, Access to systems |
| Prepare and process medical insurance claim forms and records.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 5.5% | L2 | L2L2 | 70% | 16 min | Accountability, Access to systems |
| Compute charges for medication or equipment dispensed to hospital patients and enter data in computer.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 5.5% | L2 | L2L2 | 72% | 10 min | Access to systems |
| Answer telephones, responding to questions or requests.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.4% | L2 | L2L2 | 58% | 4 min | Accountability, Access to systems |
| Establish or maintain patient profiles, including lists of medications taken by individual patients.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.3% | L2 | L2L2 | 62% | 15 min | Accountability, Access to systems |
| Operate cash registers to accept payment from customers.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.3% | L0 | L0L0 | 5% | 4 min | Physical presence, Trust and care, Access to systems |
| Assist customers by answering simple questions, locating items, or referring them to the pharmacist for medication information.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.2% | L1 | L1L2 | 30% | 5 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Trust and care, Access to systems |
| Price and file prescriptions that have been filled.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.1% | L2 | L2L2 | 52% | 4 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Maintain proper storage and security conditions for drugs.Pharmacy Technicians | 5.1% | L1 | L1L2 | 25% | 38 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Clean and help maintain equipment or work areas and sterilize glassware, according to prescribed methods.Pharmacy Technicians | 4.7% | L0 | L0L1 | 6% | 45 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Receive and store incoming supplies, verify quantities against invoices, check for outdated medications in current inventory, and inform supervisors of stock needs and shortages.Pharmacy Technicians | 4.7% | L1 | L1L2 | 35% | 1.3 h | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Prepack bulk medicines, fill bottles with prescribed medications, and type and affix labels.Pharmacy Technicians | 4.7% | L1 | L1L2 | 20% | 14 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Restock intravenous (IV) supplies and add measured drugs or nutrients to IV solutions under sterile conditions to prepare IV packs for various uses, such as chemotherapy medication.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 4.6% | L0 | L0L1 | 9% | 28 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Supply and monitor robotic machines that dispense medicine into containers and label the containers.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 4.6% | L1 | L1L2 | 25% | 38 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
Show the other 6 tasks
| Task statement (O*NET occupation) | Sonnet · Haiku | Barriers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mix pharmaceutical preparations, according to written prescriptions.Pharmacy Technicians | 4.6% | L0 | L0L1 | 10% | 20 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Transfer medication from vials to the appropriate number of sterile, disposable syringes, using aseptic techniques.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 4.5% | L0 | L0L0 | 4% | 10 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Order, label, and count stock of medications, chemicals, or supplies and enter inventory data into computer.Pharmacy Technicians | 4.4% | L2 | L2L2 | 40% | 1.3 h | Physical presence, Accountability, Access to systems |
| Deliver medications or pharmaceutical supplies to patients, nursing stations, or surgery.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 3.6% | L0 | L0L1 | 12% | 22 min | Physical presence, Accountability, Trust and care, Access to systems |
| Maintain and merchandise home healthcare products or services.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 3.3% | L1 | L1L2 | 30% | 1.0 h | Physical presence, Access to systems |
| Price stock and mark items for sale.Pharmacy Technicians · supplemental task | 2.7% | L2 | L2L2 | 52% | 38 min | Physical presence, Access to systems |
Level: consensus of the two models (the lower level when they disagree). Share: part of the task’s working time an agent could take over. Human time: minutes a competent person needs for one instance, as estimated by the models.
Exposure is not delegation
| Measure | Value | Percentile | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADI (this index) | 45.3% | 53 | |
| Eloundou et al. (2024), GPT exposure β | 0.426 | 64 | |
| Felten et al. (2021), AI occupational exposure | 0.007 | 52 | |
| Webb (2020), AI patent exposure | 42 | 31 | |
| Eisfeldt et al. (2026), generative AI exposure | 0.357 | 74 | |
| Anthropic Economic Index, observed use | 0.073 | 67 |
Earlier indices measure whether AI can touch a task; ADI measures how much of it an agent can carry out from a goal. – : the source does not cover this occupation.
Neighbouring occupations
Dashed line: pharmaceutical technicians and assistants (45.3%).
Espinal Maya, Cristian, and Santiago Jiménez Londoño. 2026. ADI v2026.1: Agent Delegability Index data, code and MCP server. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23552918. Record: Pharmaceutical technicians and assistants (ISCO-08 3213), https://balamlabs.org/adi/occupations/3213
@misc{espinal2026adidata,
title = {{ADI} v2026.1: Agent Delegability Index data, code and {MCP} server},
author = {Espinal Maya, Cristian and Jim{\'e}nez Londo{\~n}o, Santiago},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Zenodo},
version = {v2026.1},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23552918},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23552918},
note = {Record: Pharmaceutical technicians and assistants (ISCO-08 3213)}
}The same record as static JSON, with its citation: /adi/v2026.1/isco/3213.json.