Paramedics
In short: today's best AI models could do about 5% 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 conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 95% of the time, stays with people.
Administer basic or advanced emergency medical care and assess injuries and illnesses. May administer medication intravenously, use equipment such as EKGs, or administer advanced life support to sick or injured individuals.
100,610 people do this job in the US. $60,600 a year.
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work2 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people38 h
Paramedics, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 2 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 38 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Record and report the patient's condition (about 1 h, a person checks); Coordinate with the treatment center (under an hour, a person checks).
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.
- 0%
- 5%
- 5%
- 56%
- 35%
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.
What handing it over would take, now
The 5% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
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, 5%. Today's estimate: 5%.
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, 0.016% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 342nd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 13 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0019% to 0.0012% (released February and March 2025); 0.002% to 0.00081% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.017% to 0.016% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0019% | 704 of 708 | 1 of 13 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0012% | 701 of 703 | 1 of 13 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.002% | 631 of 655 | 1 of 13 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0008% | 671 of 672 | 1 of 13 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.00081% | 675 of 677 | 1 of 13 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.017% | 330 of 434 | 1 of 13 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.016% | 342 of 447 | 1 of 13 |
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 57% of this job's working time as physical work. For 7% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 7% in a purpose-built cell. 0.07 of 3, the 545th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 43%
- No robot shown 50%
- In a purpose-built cell 7%
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.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
95% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Attend training to keep certification, the in-person work, 38%
- Give first aid and life support, the hands-on work, 17%
- Coordinate with the crew and other responders, the in-person work, 7%
- Comfort and reassure patients, the in-person work, 6%
- Assess the patient, the hands-on work, 5%
- Perform invasive interventions, the hands-on work, 5%
What becomes checking the machine
5% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Record and report the patient's condition, severe if wrong, 3%
- Coordinate with the treatment center, a licensed person signs, 1%
What to learn
- The conversations. About 61% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- Signing off under your license. Some tasks need a licensed, certified or sworn person to do or sign them. The license, and the judgment it stands for, stays with the person.
- The hands-on craft. About 35% of the time is hands-on work, which no model here does; robots are rated separately on this page.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check or sign: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 13 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge.Attendance and learning only the paramedic can do.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 38% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | In person 100% | Stays with people |
| Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings.Hands-on care at the scene.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 17% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel.Working with the team and with police and fire crews at the scene.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | In person 100% | Stays with people |
| Observe, record, and report to physician the patient's condition or injury, the treatment provided, and reactions to drugs or treatment.Watching the patient, the run report in the system and the radio report to the physician.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 29 min | Systems 50%, conversation 30%, hands-on 20% | 50%Desk part half by now |
| Comfort and reassure patients.Face to face with the patient.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | In person 100% | Stays with people |
| Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures.Examining the patient by hand and asking questions at the scene.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Hands-on 60%, in person 40% | Stays with people |
| Perform emergency invasive intervention before delivering patient to an acute care facility.Invasive procedures before the hospital.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 29 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Operate equipment, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators, or bag valve mask resuscitators, in advanced life support environments.EKGs, defibrillators and resuscitators run.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Coordinate with treatment center personnel to obtain patients' vital statistics and medical history, to determine the circumstances of the emergency, and to administer emergency treatment.Radio and phone with the hospital for history and orders, with the entry.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min7 min to 25 min | Conversation 70%, systems 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Administer drugs, orally or by injection, or perform intravenous procedures.Drugs given and intravenous lines placed.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Aletta Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device (ARPD) (Vitestro) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 8 min3 min to 17 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Instruct emergency medical response team about emergency interventions to ensure correct application of procedures.Directing the team on interventions at the scene.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | In person 100% | Stays with people |
| Perform emergency pharmacological interventions.Pharmacological interventions by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 8 min4 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | 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. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% 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 Paramedics is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 5% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 5% 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 Paramedics 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: Record and report the patient's condition (50% of the task's time now); and Coordinate with the treatment center (30% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Paramedics stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Attend training to keep certification; Give first aid and life support; and Coordinate with the crew and other responders. Together such tasks are about 89% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Paramedics learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are the conversations; judgment where errors are severe; and signing off under your license. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 95% of the working time stays with people, 5% becomes checking a model's work and 0% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Paramedics?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.016% went to this job's tasks, the 342nd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 13 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 Paramedics?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 57% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 7% of the working time. Its index is 0.07 of 3. One example: Aletta Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device (ARPD) for "administer drugs and ivs". 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 13 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), 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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