Occupational Therapy Aides
In short: today's best AI models could do about 7% 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 93% of the time, stays with people.
Under close supervision of an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing patient and treatment room.
4,310 people do this job in the US. $39,160 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people37 h
Occupational Therapy Aides, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records (about 2 h); Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments (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.
- 7%
- 0%
- 93%
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, 8%. Today's estimate: 8%.
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 0.0018% (released February and March 2025); 0.0034% to 0.0062% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0022% | 687 of 708 | 1 of 15 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0018% | 679 of 703 | 1 of 15 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0034% | 573 of 655 | 1 of 15 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0084% | 503 of 672 | 1 of 15 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0062% | 554 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 83% of this job's working time as physical work. For 38% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 34% in a purpose-built cell, 4% in a structured facility. 0.42 of 3, the 337th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 17%
- No robot shown 45%
- In a purpose-built cell 34%
- 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 . 15 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assist occupational therapists in planning, implementing, and administering therapy programs to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance, using selected activities and special equipment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate the living skills and capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 1.7 h50 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, AmbiSort A-/B-Series (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 13% | 38 min17 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Encourage patients and attend to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 33 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Supervise patients in choosing and completing work assignments or arts and crafts projects.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 11% | 50 min25 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and other skills to facilitate home and work adjustment to disability.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, PALRO (Fujisoft) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling appointments.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, SteelcoBelimed LC 80 BOT cart/bed washer-disinfector (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 33 min17 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, WHILL Autonomous Drive System / Autonomous Mobility Service (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust and repair assistive devices and make adaptive changes to other equipment and to environments.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Robotiq Screwdriving Solution (SD-100 screwdriver + SF-300 feeder on UR cobot workcell) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 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 Occupational Therapy Aides is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 8% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 8% 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 Occupational Therapy Aides 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: Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records (100% of the task's time now); and Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Occupational Therapy Aides stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Assist occupational therapists in planning, implementing, and administering therapy programs to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance, using selected activities and special equipment; Evaluate the living skills and capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities; and Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies. Together such tasks are about 93% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Occupational Therapy Aides?
- 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 7%. 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 Occupational Therapy Aides?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 83% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 38% of the working time, 4% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.42 of 3. One example: PALRO (Fujisoft) for "demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games". 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.
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