Physical Therapist Aides
In short: today's best AI models could do about 18% 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 82% of the time, stays with people.
Under close supervision of a physical therapist or physical therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing the patient and the treatment area.
48,150 people do this job in the US. $35,240 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on7 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people33 h
Physical Therapist Aides, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 7 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 33 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Perform clerical duties, such as taking inventory, ordering supplies, answering telephone, taking messages, or filling out forms (about 3 h); Schedule patient appointments with physical therapists and coordinate therapists' schedules (about 3 h); Record treatment given and equipment used (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.
- 18%
- 7%
- 75%
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, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 18%. Today's estimate: 18%.
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 19 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.00096% to 0.00081% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| Released March 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.00096% | 653 of 655 | 1 of 19 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.00081% | 676 of 677 | 1 of 19 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 19 |
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 72% of this job's working time as physical work. For 61% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 61% in a purpose-built cell. 0.61 of 3, the 280th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 28%
- No robot shown 11%
- In a purpose-built cell 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 . 19 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instruct, motivate, safeguard, or assist patients practicing exercises or functional activities, under direction of medical staff.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, InMotion ARM/HAND (BIONIK Laboratories) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 13% | 25 min13 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean and organize work area and disinfect equipment after treatment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, AMP Cortex sorting robot (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 17 min8 min to 29 min | Stays with people | |
| Administer active or passive manual therapeutic exercises, therapeutic massage, or heat, light, sound, water, or electrical modality treatments, such as ultrasound.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Lokomat / LokomatPro (Hocoma AG) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform clerical duties, such as taking inventory, ordering supplies, answering telephone, taking messages, or filling out forms.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Observe patients during treatment to compile and evaluate data on patients' responses and progress and report to physical therapist.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Confer with physical therapy staff or others to discuss and evaluate patient information for planning, modifying, or coordinating treatment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Schedule patient appointments with physical therapists and coordinate therapists' schedules.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Maintain equipment or furniture to keep it in good working condition, including performing the assembly or disassembly of equipment or accessories.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RoboTire (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Change linens, such as bed sheets and pillow cases.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Transport patients to and from treatment areas, using wheelchairs or providing standing support.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, WHILL Autonomous Drive System (with Unifi Aviation) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Arrange treatment supplies to keep them in order.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, TidyBot (Princeton University / Stanford University) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min8 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Secure patients into or onto therapy equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | 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 Physical Therapist Aides is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 18% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 18% 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 Physical Therapist 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: Perform clerical duties, such as taking inventory, ordering supplies, answering telephone, taking messages, or filling out forms (100% of the task's time now); Schedule patient appointments with physical therapists and coordinate therapists' schedules (100% of the task's time now); and Record treatment given and equipment used (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Physical Therapist Aides stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Instruct, motivate, safeguard, or assist patients practicing exercises or functional activities, under direction of medical staff; Clean and organize work area and disinfect equipment after treatment; and Administer active or passive manual therapeutic exercises, therapeutic massage, or heat, light, sound, water, or electrical modality treatments, such as ultrasound. Together such tasks are about 82% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Physical Therapist 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 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 Physical Therapist Aides?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 72% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 61% of the working time. Its index is 0.61 of 3. One example: InMotion ARM/HAND for "instruct, motivate, safeguard, or assist patients practicing exercises or functional activities, under direction of medical staff". 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 19 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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