Surgical Technologists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 2% 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 98% of the time, stays with people.
Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel. May help set up operating room, prepare and transport patients for surgery, adjust lights and equipment, pass instruments and other supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors, cut sutures, and help count sponges, needles, supplies, and instruments.
117,460 people do this job in the US. $64,650 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 work1 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people39 h
Surgical Technologists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 1 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 39 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Keep surgical records (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%
- 2%
- 0%
- 0%
- 97%
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 2% 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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.
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 18 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.002% to 0.0017% (released February and March 2025).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.002% | 702 of 708 | 1 of 18 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0017% | 691 of 703 | 1 of 18 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 18 |
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 16% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 16% in a purpose-built cell. 0.16 of 3, the 475th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 10%
- No robot shown 74%
- In a purpose-built cell 16%
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
97% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Pass instruments and hold retractors, the hands-on work, 21%
- Monitor operating room conditions, the hands-on work, 21%
- Assist surgeons and anesthesiologists, the hands-on work, 13%
- Maintain the sterile field, the hands-on work, 6%
- Clean and restock the operating room, the hands-on work, 6%
- Wash and sterilize equipment, the hands-on work, 5%
What becomes checking the machine
2% 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.
- Keep surgical records, severe if wrong, 1%
- Schedule surgeries, costly if wrong, 0.6%
What to learn
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- The hands-on craft. About 97% of the time is hands-on work, which no model here does; robots are rated separately on this page.
- 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.
- 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 . 18 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation.Instruments passed, retractors held, sutures cut.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 21% | 1.7 h38 min to 5 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Monitor and continually assess operating room conditions, including patient and surgical team needs.Watching the patient and the team's needs through the operation.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 21% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Provide technical assistance to surgeons, surgical nurses, or anesthesiologists.Technical assistance at the table.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 13% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Maintain a proper sterile field during surgical procedures.The sterile field kept through the procedure.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Clean and restock operating room, gathering and placing equipment and supplies and arranging instruments according to instructions, such as a preference card.Room restocked and instruments laid out to the preference card.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 38 min25 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Wash and sterilize equipment, using germicides and sterilizers.Germicides and sterilizers on the equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Getinge 86-series Washer-Disinfector (S-8666/S-8668/S-8668T) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 38 min25 min to 1.3 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing.Scrubbing and helping the team into gloves and gowns.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Prepare patients for surgery, including positioning patients on the operating table and covering them with sterile surgical drapes to prevent exposure.The patient positioned and draped.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Count sponges, needles, and instruments before and after operation.Counts before and after the operation.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Penelope CS (Robotic Systems & Technologies, Inc.) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 13 min8 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Prepare dressings or bandages and apply or assist with their application following surgery.Dressings prepared and applied.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Aletta Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device (ARPD) (Vitestro) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 13 min8 min to 21 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Prepare, care for, and dispose of tissue specimens taken for laboratory analysis.Specimens prepared, cared for and disposed of.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, nToto / mini nToto automated grossing platform (FormaPath) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Operate, assemble, adjust, or monitor sterilizers, lights, suction machines, or diagnostic equipment to ensure proper operation.Sterilizers, lights and suction set up and watched.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 21 min8 min to 38 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 Surgical Technologists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 2% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 2% 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 Technologists 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: Keep surgical records (100% of the task's time now); Schedule surgeries (70% of the task's time now); and Order surgical supplies (60% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Surgical Technologists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Pass instruments and hold retractors; Monitor operating room conditions; and Assist surgeons and anesthesiologists. Together such tasks are about 97% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Surgical Technologists learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are judgment where errors are severe; the hands-on craft; and signing off under your license. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 97% of the working time stays with people, 2% becomes checking a model's work and 1% 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 Surgical Technologists?
- 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 Technologists?
- 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 16% of the working time. Its index is 0.16 of 3. One example: Getinge 86-series Washer-Disinfector (S-8666/S-8668/S-8668T) for "wash and sterilize equipment". 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 18 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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