EXPOSED
Lecture prep, syllabus writing, quiz generation, literature reviews and first drafts of grant proposals and journal manuscripts are already within reach of current AI, and that is a real share of the week. What doesn't move: running teaching farms, greenhouses, soils and animal-science labs, supervising field trials and graduate research, and mentoring students who will be hired on your recommendation. No license gates the job, but accreditation, tenure structures and the land-grant extension mission slow displacement more than the task mix alone would suggest.
Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. Roughly half the week — writing lecture slides on ruminant nutrition, generating exam banks, summarizing agronomy literature, drafting USDA/NIFA proposal boilerplate — is now first-draftable by a model, which is why this sits at 12 rather than 16; what holds the line is calibrating a soil-testing lab, diagnosing a sick calf in front of 20 students, and reading a graduate student's failing plot trial in person.
Some physical or field component. At 12 rather than 4, this reflects real time in teaching greenhouses, livestock handling facilities, ag mechanics shops and rain-dependent research plots where you demonstrate AI breeding, tissue sampling or tractor PTO safety; it stays below 13 because the classroom, office hours and manuscript writing still consume most contact hours and the field work is on a departmental farm you control, not an uncontrolled site.
No licence, no signature requirement. No state license, no board exam, and no personal signature standing behind your instruction — a 4 rather than 0 only because pesticide applicator certification, animal-care IACUC protocols and USDA lab compliance training create paperwork you must personally hold, none of which restricts who may teach the course.
The human relationship is the product. At 15, the score reflects that your letter of recommendation is what places students with seed companies, extension offices and vet schools, that producers and county agents call you by name for a diagnosis, and that graduate advising is a multi-year personal relationship; it is not 18-20 because large intro sections and service courses are taught to students who will never learn your first name.
Meaningful discretion. A 13 covers deciding whether a thesis is defensible, whether a herd-health or pesticide demonstration is safe to run with undergraduates present, and how to grade contested capstone work — consequential calls you own, but bounded by curriculum committees, IACUC review, tenure-and-promotion criteria and accreditation standards that pre-decide much of the frame.
Has AI actually changed your work?