Neurologists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 49% 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 51% of the time, stays with people.
Diagnose, manage, and treat disorders and diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, with a primarily nonsurgical focus.
10,590 people do this job in the US. $248,560 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on20 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people20 h
Neurologists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 20 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 20 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Develop treatment plans based on diagnoses and on evaluation of factors, such as age and general health, or procedural risks and costs (about 3 h); Provide training to medical students or staff members (about 3 h); Inform patients or families of neurological diagnoses and prognoses, or benefits, risks and costs of various treatment plans (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.
- 49%
- 11%
- 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, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 41%. Today's estimate: 49%.
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 392nd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 24 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0028% to 0.0093% (released February and March 2025); 0.0078% to 0.0067% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.011% to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0028% | 668 of 708 | 1 of 24 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0093% | 519 of 703 | 3 of 24 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0078% | 486 of 655 | 4 of 24 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0039% | 598 of 672 | 2 of 24 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0067% | 543 of 677 | 3 of 24 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 373 of 434 | 1 of 24 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 392 of 447 | 1 of 24 |
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 26% 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 74%
- No robot shown 26%
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 . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify and treat major neurological system diseases and disorders, such as central nervous system infection, cranio spinal trauma, dementia, and stroke.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform or interpret the outcomes of procedures or diagnostic tests, such as lumbar punctures, electroencephalography, electromyography, and nerve conduction velocity tests.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Develop treatment plans based on diagnoses and on evaluation of factors, such as age and general health, or procedural risks and costs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Provide training to medical students or staff members.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Examine patients to obtain information about functional status of areas, such as vision, physical strength, coordination, reflexes, sensations, language skills, cognitive abilities, and mental status.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Inform patients or families of neurological diagnoses and prognoses, or benefits, risks and costs of various treatment plans.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 29 min13 min to 1.1 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Interview patients to obtain information, such as complaints, symptoms, medical histories, and family histories.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Participate in neuroscience research activities.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | 91%Half by now | |
| Diagnose neurological conditions based on interpretation of examination findings, histories, or test results.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Prescribe or administer medications, such as anti-epileptic drugs, and monitor patients for behavioral and cognitive side effects.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Counsel patients or others on the background of neurological disorders including risk factors, or genetic or environmental concerns.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform specialized treatments in areas such as sleep disorders, neuroimmunology, neuro-oncology, behavioral neurology, and neurogenetics.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 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.
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 Neurologists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 49% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 49% 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 Neurologists 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: Develop treatment plans based on diagnoses and on evaluation of factors, such as age and general health, or procedural risks and costs (100% of the task's time now); Provide training to medical students or staff members (100% of the task's time now); and Inform patients or families of neurological diagnoses and prognoses, or benefits, risks and costs of various treatment plans (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Neurologists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Identify and treat major neurological system diseases and disorders, such as central nervous system infection, cranio spinal trauma, dementia, and stroke; Perform or interpret the outcomes of procedures or diagnostic tests, such as lumbar punctures, electroencephalography, electromyography, and nerve conduction velocity tests; and Examine patients to obtain information about functional status of areas, such as vision, physical strength, coordination, reflexes, sensations, language skills, cognitive abilities, and mental status. Together such tasks are about 51% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Neurologists?
- 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 392nd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 24 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 Neurologists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 26% 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 24 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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This occupation has not been reviewed task by task yet, so the full personal report is not offered for it; 402 of 923 occupations are reviewed so far, largest first.