Surgical Assistants
In short: today's best AI models could do about 0% 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 100% of the time, stays with people.
Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons. May, in accordance with state laws, help surgeons to make incisions and close surgical sites, manipulate or remove tissues, implant surgical devices or drains, suction the surgical site, place catheters, clamp or cauterize vessels or tissue, and apply dressings to surgical site.
22,270 people do this job in the US. $66,800 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people40 h
Surgical Assistants, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 40 hours stay with people.
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%
- 1%
- 99%
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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 0%. Today's estimate: 0%.
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 28 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.005% to none (released February and March 2025); 0.0019% to none (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.005% | 607 of 708 | 2 of 28 |
| Released March 2025 | none | n/a | 0 of 28 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0019% | 638 of 655 | 1 of 28 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 28 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 28 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 28 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 28 |
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 90% of this job's working time as physical work. For 23% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 23% in a purpose-built cell. 0.23 of 3, the 414th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 10%
- No robot shown 66%
- In a purpose-built cell 23%
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 . 28 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor and maintain aseptic technique throughout procedures.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 18% | 1.7 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 18% | 1.7 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 17% | 1.7 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor patient intra-operative status, including patient position, vital signs, or volume and color of blood.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 1.7 h25 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Gather, arrange, or assemble instruments or supplies.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RIF Robotics PacR tray assembly system (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Prepare and apply sterile wound dressings.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Coordinate or participate in the positioning of patients, using body stabilizing equipment or protective padding to provide appropriate exposure for the procedure or to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Obtain or inspect sterile or non-sterile surgical equipment, instruments, or supplies.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, BoxPicker automated pharmacy storage system (Swisslog Healthcare) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Apply sutures, staples, clips, or other materials to close skin, facia, or subcutaneous wound layers.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Dual-arm STAR with NIRF sutures (Johns Hopkins University / Children's National) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Clamp, ligate, or cauterize blood vessels to control bleeding during surgical entry, using hemostatic clamps, suture ligatures, or electrocautery equipment.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Determine availability of necessary equipment or supplies for operative procedures.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Cover patients with surgical drapes to create and maintain a sterile operative field.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 25 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 Surgical Assistants is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 0% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 0% 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 Surgical Assistants come within reach first?
- No task has a meaningful share of its time within reach now or by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five: the work is mostly people work and body work, which the site does not count.
- Which tasks of Surgical Assistants stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Monitor and maintain aseptic technique throughout procedures; Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure; and Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment. Together such tasks are about 100% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Surgical Assistants?
- 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 Surgical Assistants?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 90% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 23% of the working time. Its index is 0.23 of 3. One example: RIF Robotics PacR tray assembly system for "gather, arrange, or assemble instruments or supplies". 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 28 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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