Podiatrists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 22% 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 78% of the time, stays with people.
Diagnose and treat diseases and deformities of the human foot.
9,680 people do this job in the US. $160,300 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on9 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people31 h
Podiatrists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 9 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 31 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prescribe medications, corrective devices, physical therapy, or surgery (about 3 h); Educate the public about the benefits of foot care through techniques such as speaking engagements, advertising, and other forums (about 3 h); Perform administrative duties, such as hiring employees, ordering supplies, or keeping records (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.
- 22%
- 7%
- 71%
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, 19%. Today's estimate: 22%.
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
None of this job's 11 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
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 67% 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 33%
- No robot shown 67%
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 . 11 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surgically treat conditions such as corns, calluses, ingrown nails, tumors, shortened tendons, bunions, cysts, or abscesses.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 23% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Diagnose diseases and deformities of the foot using medical histories, physical examinations, x-rays, and laboratory test results.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 38 min21 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Make and fit prosthetic appliances.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Treat bone, muscle, and joint disorders affecting the feet and ankles.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 33 min17 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Prescribe medications, corrective devices, physical therapy, or surgery.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Educate the public about the benefits of foot care through techniques such as speaking engagements, advertising, and other forums.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.7 h50 min to 5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Advise patients about treatments and foot care techniques necessary for prevention of future problems.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform administrative duties, such as hiring employees, ordering supplies, or keeping records.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Correct deformities by means of plaster casts and strapping.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Refer patients to physicians when symptoms indicative of systemic disorders, such as arthritis or diabetes, are observed in feet and legs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 2% | 13 min8 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Treat deformities using mechanical methods, such as whirlpool or paraffin baths, and electrical methods, such as short wave and low voltage currents.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 33 min17 min to 1.1 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 Podiatrists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 22% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 22% 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 Podiatrists 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: Prescribe medications, corrective devices, physical therapy, or surgery (100% of the task's time now); Educate the public about the benefits of foot care through techniques such as speaking engagements, advertising, and other forums (100% of the task's time now); and Perform administrative duties, such as hiring employees, ordering supplies, or keeping records (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Podiatrists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Surgically treat conditions such as corns, calluses, ingrown nails, tumors, shortened tendons, bunions, cysts, or abscesses; Diagnose diseases and deformities of the foot using medical histories, physical examinations, x-rays, and laboratory test results; and Make and fit prosthetic appliances. Together such tasks are about 78% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Podiatrists?
- 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 Podiatrists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 67% 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 11 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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