Animal Trainers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 1% 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 the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 99% of the time, stays with people.
Train animals for riding, harness, security, performance, or obedience, or for assisting persons with disabilities. Accustom animals to human voice and contact, and condition animals to respond to commands. Train animals according to prescribed standards for show or competition. May train animals to carry pack loads or work as part of pack team.
18,770 people do this job in the US. $39,990 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people40 h
Animal Trainers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 40 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Keep records documenting animal health, diet, or behavior (under an hour).
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.
- 1%
- 1%
- 98%
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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 1%. Today's estimate: 1%.
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, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 15 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0022% to 0.0016% (released February and March 2025); none to 0.0027% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0022% | 683 of 708 | 1 of 15 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0016% | 692 of 703 | 1 of 15 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 15 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0023% | 631 of 672 | 1 of 15 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0027% | 624 of 677 | 1 of 15 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 15 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 15 |
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 93% of this job's working time as physical work. For 20% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 20% in a purpose-built cell. 0.20 of 3, the 443rd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 7%
- No robot shown 73%
- In a purpose-built cell 20%
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 . 15 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conduct training programs to develop or maintain desired animal behaviors for competition, entertainment, obedience, security, riding, or related purposes.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 30% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Train dogs in human assistance or property protection duties.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Train horses or other equines for riding, harness, show, racing, or other work, using knowledge of breed characteristics, training methods, performance standards, and the peculiarities of each animal.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Talk to or interact with animals to familiarize them to human voices or contact.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Retrain horses to break bad habits, such as kicking, bolting, or resisting bridling or grooming.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Feed or exercise animals or provide other general care, such as cleaning or maintaining holding or performance areas.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Getinge Cage Handling System (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate animals for trainability and ability to perform.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate animals to determine their temperaments, abilities, or aptitude for training.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Use oral, spur, rein, or hand commands to condition horses to carry riders or to pull horse-drawn equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Cue or signal animals during performances.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe animals' physical conditions to detect illness or unhealthy conditions requiring medical care.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Advise animal owners regarding the purchase of specific animals.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 1% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people |
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.
- Animal Caretakers4% now, 5% by 2028
- Animal Breeders33% now, 33% by 2028
- Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers17% now, 17% by 2028
- Animal Control Workers38% now, 38% by 2028
- Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals2% now, 2% by 2028
- Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors48% now, 48% by 2028
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 Animal Trainers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 1% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 1% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. 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 Animal Trainers 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: Keep records documenting animal health, diet, or behavior (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Animal Trainers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Conduct training programs to develop or maintain desired animal behaviors for competition, entertainment, obedience, security, riding, or related purposes; Train dogs in human assistance or property protection duties; and Train horses or other equines for riding, harness, show, racing, or other work, using knowledge of breed characteristics, training methods, performance standards, and the peculiarities of each animal. Together such tasks are about 99% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Animal Trainers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. 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 Animal Trainers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 93% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 20% of the working time. Its index is 0.20 of 3. One example: Getinge Cage Handling System for "feed or exercise animals or provide other general care, such as cleaning or maintaining holding or performance areas". 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 15 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.
This job in your state or metro area
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