Athletic Trainers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 45% 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 46% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 54% of the time, stays with people.
Evaluate and treat musculoskeletal injuries or illnesses. Provide preventive, therapeutic, emergency, and rehabilitative care.
30,500 people do this job in the US. $62,520 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on18 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people22 h
Athletic Trainers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 18 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 22 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs (about 6 h); Develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance (about 6 h); Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports (about 3 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.
- 46%
- 14%
- 40%
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, 22%. Today's estimate: 45%.
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, 0.085% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 176th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 3 of its 23 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.011% to 0.017% (released February and March 2025); 0.021% to 0.043% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.068% to 0.085% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.011% | 522 of 708 | 3 of 23 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.017% | 440 of 703 | 3 of 23 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.021% | 356 of 655 | 4 of 23 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.045% | 251 of 672 | 5 of 23 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.043% | 267 of 677 | 4 of 23 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.068% | 195 of 434 | 2 of 23 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.085% | 176 of 447 | 3 of 23 |
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 76% 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: 7% in a purpose-built cell, 4% in a structured facility. 0.16 of 3, the 473rd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 24%
- No robot shown 64%
- In a purpose-built cell 7%
- In a structured facility 4%
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 . 23 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 16% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 1 work day | 97%Half by now | |
| Develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 14% | 2.1 h50 min to 4.2 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.Done several times a day by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Conduct an initial assessment of an athlete's injury or illness to provide emergency or continued care and to determine whether they should be referred to physicians for definitive diagnosis and treatment.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 33 min17 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Teach sports medicine courses to athletic training students.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 7% | 2.5 h1.3 h to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 5 h2.5 h to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Instruct coaches, athletes, parents, medical personnel, or community members in the care and prevention of athletic injuries.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Conduct research or provide instruction on subject matter related to athletic training or sports medicine.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h50 min to 1 work day | 86%Half by now | |
| Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Clean and sanitize athletic training rooms.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Steelco LC 80 BOT washer-disinfector (SteelcoBelimed) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 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.
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 Athletic Trainers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 45% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 46% 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 Athletic 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: Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs (97% of the task's time now); Develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance (100% of the task's time now); and Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Athletic Trainers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication; Conduct an initial assessment of an athlete's injury or illness to provide emergency or continued care and to determine whether they should be referred to physicians for definitive diagnosis and treatment; and Teach sports medicine courses to athletic training students. Together such tasks are about 54% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Athletic Trainers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.085% went to this job's tasks, the 176th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 3 of its 23 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 5%. 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 Athletic Trainers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 76% 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, 4% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.16 of 3. One example: Aescape (Aertable / Aerpoints) for "massage body parts to relieve soreness, strains, or bruises". 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 23 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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