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Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · United States (national)

Occupational Therapists

How exposed this work is to automation, shown as ranges with the reasoning and sources.

The short version: this role is less exposed to automation, and a near-term shift looks unlikely. It is a sourced range, not a verdict, and the detail is below.

Built on O*NET tasks, BLS pay and projections, and peer-reviewed AI-exposure research. Sources shown. Data snapshot SNAPSHOT-2026-11-06. How it works
39.4 of 100
AI / softwarerange 27.4 to 51.4
29.6 of 100
Physical / roboticsrange 17.6 to 41.6

When the change is likely

unlikely soon 0y 5y 10y 15y 20+y

Largely unaffected local demand growing

What to do about it

Use AI to outpace AI.

Strategies to protect your livelihood, most important first.

1
Stay sharp; urgency is low
This role looks durable. Keep your skills current and watch for shifts in your field.
2
Pivot toward Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians
It is skill-adjacent and less exposed (29.0 vs 39). A lateral move now beats a forced one later.
3
Build a financial buffer
Keep 6 to 12 months of expenses and diversify your income, so a disruption is a setback rather than a catastrophe.
4
Add a recognised credential
A certification or license raises the bar against automation and signals value in a tightening market.

Which of my tasks are exposed

Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
50.0
Complete and maintain necessary records.
50.0
Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate persons with disabilities because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.
100.0
Plan and implement programs and social activities to help patients learn work or school skills and adjust to handicaps.
100.0
Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental or physical capabilities.
100.0
Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.
50.0
Train caregivers in providing for the needs of a patient during and after therapy.
100.0
Lay out materials such as puzzles, scissors and eating utensils for use in therapy, and clean and repair these tools after therapy sessions.
29.6

Longer, orange bars are more automatable; short green bars are resistant.

What is driving my result

lowers risk
raises risk
Task: Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate persons with disabilities because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.
Task: Plan and implement programs and social activities to help patients learn work or school skills and adjust to handicaps.
Local demand is growing

Lower-risk adjacent roles

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians
29.0
Psychiatric Technicians
34.0
Physical Therapists
36.4
Recreational Therapists
36.4

A full, ranked mitigation plan is part of the paid tiers.

How this score is calculated

  1. Map Occupational Therapists to its standard O*NET task list (8 core tasks).
  2. Score each task for AI/software exposure (Eloundou et al. 2023) and physical/robotics exposure (an O*NET work-context proxy), each 0 to 100.
  3. The two axis scores are the task averages: AI 39.4, robotics 29.6.
  4. The timeline comes from the higher axis (39.4), shifted for local demand (growing), and seniority. It is read against your remaining working years.
  5. Ranges are about ±12 points. A backtest against real BLS employment change shows the risk ranking holds in aggregate, but individual outcomes are predicted weakly, so results are ranges, never a flat verdict.

Sources: O*NET, Eloundou et al. (2023), GPTs are GPTs, O*NET Work Context, BLS CPI-U, BLS OEWS. Snapshot SNAPSHOT-2026-11-06. Full method and backtest on How it works.

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