Dermatologists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 25% 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 41% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 59% of the time, stays with people.
Diagnose and treat diseases relating to the skin, hair, and nails. May perform both medical and dermatological surgery functions.
11,370 people do this job in the US. $328,730 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on10 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet6 h
- Stays with people24 h
Dermatologists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 10 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 6 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 24 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Conduct clinical or basic research (about 3 h); Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in dermatology (about 2 h); Record patients' health histories (about 1 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.
- 41%
- 8%
- 51%
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, 4%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 16%. Today's estimate: 25%.
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 18 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0027% to 0.0026% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| Released March 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0027% | 597 of 655 | 1 of 18 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0042% | 591 of 672 | 2 of 18 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0026% | 626 of 677 | 1 of 18 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
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 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 39%
- No robot shown 61%
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 . 18 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conduct clinical or basic research.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 25% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 4.2 work days | 35%Half by Jan 2027 | |
| Perform skin surgery to improve appearance, make early diagnoses, or control diseases such as skin cancer.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 18% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Diagnose and treat pigmented lesions such as common acquired nevi, congenital nevi, dysplastic nevi, Spitz nevi, blue nevi, or melanoma.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 29 min17 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Diagnose and treat skin conditions such as acne, dandruff, athlete's foot, moles, psoriasis, or skin cancer.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 25 min13 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Conduct complete skin examinations.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 21 min13 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Counsel patients on topics such as the need for annual dermatologic screenings, sun protection, skin cancer awareness, or skin and lymph node self-examinations.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 29 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform incisional biopsies to diagnose melanoma.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide therapies such as intralesional steroids, chemical peels, or comodo removal to treat age spots, sun damage, rough skin, discolored skin, or oily skin.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in dermatology.Done more than weekly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Instruct interns or residents in diagnosis and treatment of dermatological diseases.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide dermabrasion or laser abrasion to treat atrophic scars, elevated scars, or other skin conditions.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Record patients' health histories.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 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 Dermatologists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 25% 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 Dermatologists 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: Conduct clinical or basic research (35% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in dermatology (100% of the task's time now); and Record patients' health histories (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Dermatologists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Perform skin surgery to improve appearance, make early diagnoses, or control diseases such as skin cancer; Diagnose and treat pigmented lesions such as common acquired nevi, congenital nevi, dysplastic nevi, Spitz nevi, blue nevi, or melanoma; and Diagnose and treat skin conditions such as acne, dandruff, athlete's foot, moles, psoriasis, or skin cancer. Together such tasks are about 59% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Dermatologists?
- 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 Dermatologists?
- 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 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. 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 18 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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