Midwives
In short: today's best AI models could do about 56% 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 44% of the time, stays with people.
Provide prenatal care and childbirth assistance.
$65,790 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on22 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people18 h
Midwives, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 22 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 18 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Incorporate research findings into practice as appropriate (about 5 h); Develop, implement, or evaluate individualized plans for midwifery care (about 3 h); Provide information about the physical and emotional processes involved in the pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum periods (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.
- 56%
- 6%
- 38%
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, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 49%. Today's estimate: 56%.
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, 0.042% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 243rd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 2 of its 36 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.029% to 0.068% (released February and March 2025); 0.1% to 0.15% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.045% to 0.042% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.029% | 376 of 708 | 5 of 36 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.068% | 217 of 703 | 7 of 36 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.1% | 151 of 655 | 8 of 36 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.11% | 144 of 672 | 11 of 36 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.15% | 118 of 677 | 12 of 36 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.045% | 236 of 434 | 2 of 36 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.042% | 243 of 447 | 2 of 36 |
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 58% of this job's working time as physical work. For 3% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 2% in a purpose-built cell, 1% in a structured facility. 0.05 of 3, the 591st highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 42%
- No robot shown 55%
- In a purpose-built cell 2%
- In a structured facility 1%
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 . 36 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incorporate research findings into practice as appropriate.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 99%Half by now | |
| Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 33 min17 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Develop, implement, or evaluate individualized plans for midwifery care.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Provide information about the physical and emotional processes involved in the pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum periods.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 6% | 33 min17 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Counsel women regarding the nutritional requirements of pregnancy.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate patients' laboratory and medical records, requesting assistance from other practitioners when necessary.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Maintain documentation of all patients' contacts, reviewing and updating records as necessary.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Obtain complete health and medical histories from patients including medical, surgical, reproductive, or mental health histories.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 33 min17 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Establish and follow emergency or contingency plans for mothers and newborns.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Provide, or refer patients to other providers for, education or counseling on topics such as genetic testing, newborn care, contraception, or breastfeeding.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 33 min17 min to 1.1 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). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Midwives is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 56% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 56% 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 Midwives 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: Incorporate research findings into practice as appropriate (99% of the task's time now); Develop, implement, or evaluate individualized plans for midwifery care (100% of the task's time now); and Provide information about the physical and emotional processes involved in the pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum periods (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Midwives stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health; Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation; and Counsel women regarding the nutritional requirements of pregnancy. Together such tasks are about 44% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Midwives?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.042% went to this job's tasks, the 243rd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 2 of its 36 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 Midwives?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 58% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 3% of the working time, 1% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.05 of 3. One example: Aletta Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device (ARPD) for "test patients' hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood glucose levels". 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 36 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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