Anesthesiologists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 32% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 40% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 60% of the time, stays with people.
Administer anesthetics and analgesics for pain management prior to, during, or after surgery.
38,760 people do this job in the US. $391,490 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on13 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet3 h
- Stays with people24 h
Anesthesiologists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 13 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 3 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 24 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Manage anesthesiological services, coordinating them with other medical activities and formulating plans and procedures (about 5 h); Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure (about 2 h); Inform students and staff of types and methods of anesthesia administration, signs of complications, and emergency methods to counteract reactions (about 2 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 40%
- 12%
- 48%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 18%. Today's estimate: 32%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 350th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 20 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0033% to 0.0032% (released February and March 2025); 0.021% to 0.0094% (August 2025 to February 2026); none to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0033% | 646 of 708 | 1 of 20 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0032% | 621 of 703 | 1 of 20 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.021% | 365 of 655 | 3 of 20 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0095% | 484 of 672 | 1 of 20 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0094% | 505 of 677 | 1 of 20 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 20 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 350 of 447 | 1 of 20 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 61% of this job's working time as physical work. For 12% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 12% in a structured facility. 0.24 of 3, the 409th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 39%
- No robot shown 49%
- In a structured facility 12%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manage anesthesiological services, coordinating them with other medical activities and formulating plans and procedures.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 19% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.7 work days | 71%Half by now | |
| Monitor patient before, during, and after anesthesia and counteract adverse reactions or complications.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Automated anesthesia control system (University of Fukui / Japanese closed-loop TIVA system) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 50 min17 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine patient, obtain medical history, and use diagnostic tests to determine risk during surgical, obstetrical, and other medical procedures.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 29 min17 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Coordinate administration of anesthetics with surgeons during operation.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Coordinate and direct work of nurses, medical technicians, and other health care providers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide and maintain life support and airway management and help prepare patients for emergency surgery.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Teach anesthesiology principles to residents.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Inform students and staff of types and methods of anesthesia administration, signs of complications, and emergency methods to counteract reactions.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 2.1 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Conduct medical research to aid in controlling and curing disease, to investigate new medications, and to develop and test new medical techniques.Done yearly or less by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 4.2 work days | 35%Half by Jan 2027 | |
| Provide medical care and consultation in many settings, prescribing medication and treatment and referring patients for surgery.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Anesthesiologists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 32% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 41% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (40% to 41% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Anesthesiologists come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Manage anesthesiological services, coordinating them with other medical activities and formulating plans and procedures (71% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure (100% of the task's time now); and Inform students and staff of types and methods of anesthesia administration, signs of complications, and emergency methods to counteract reactions (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Anesthesiologists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Monitor patient before, during, and after anesthesia and counteract adverse reactions or complications; Administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods; and Examine patient, obtain medical history, and use diagnostic tests to determine risk during surgical, obstetrical, and other medical procedures. Together such tasks are about 60% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Anesthesiologists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks, the 350th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 20 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Anesthesiologists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 61% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 12% of the working time, 12% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.24 of 3. One example: Automated anesthesia control system (University of Fukui / Japanese closed-loop TIVA system) for "administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 20 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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