AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 29-1211.00
Will AI replace Anesthesiologists?
Anesthesiologists: AI can already handle 1 of 18 tasks; the work mostly needs a standard-tier model.
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Every task, scored
The 18 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Anesthesiologists, from most to least exposed. 1 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provide medical care and consultation in many settings, prescribing medication and treatment and referring patients for surgery. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Position patient on operating table to maximize patient comfort and surgical accessibility. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Decide when patients have recovered or stabilized enough to be sent to another room or ward or to be sent home following outpatient surgery. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Confer with other medical professionals to determine type and method of anesthetic or sedation to render patient insensible to pain. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Inform students and staff of types and methods of anesthesia administration, signs of complications, and emergency methods to counteract reactions. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Coordinate administration of anesthetics with surgeons during operation. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Manage anesthesiological services, coordinating them with other medical activities and formulating plans and procedures. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Coordinate and direct work of nurses, medical technicians, and other health care providers. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Conduct medical research to aid in controlling and curing disease, to investigate new medications, and to develop and test new medical techniques. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Instruct individuals and groups on ways to preserve health and prevent disease. | Observed | Standard | |
| Provide and maintain life support and airway management and help prepare patients for emergency surgery. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Schedule and maintain use of surgical suite, including operating, wash-up, waiting rooms, or anesthetic and sterilizing equipment. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Monitor patient before, during, and after anesthesia and counteract adverse reactions or complications. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Examine patient, obtain medical history, and use diagnostic tests to determine risk during surgical, obstetrical, and other medical procedures. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Order laboratory tests, x-rays, and other diagnostic procedures. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Diagnose illnesses, using examinations, tests, and reports. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 1 of 18 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 17 of 18. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
A standard-tier model or lower covers 72% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 77% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 23% is hands-on.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 38,760
- Median annual wage
- $391,490
- Middle half of earners
- $207,000 to $490,530
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +3.2%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Nurse Anesthetists 78% skill overlap, about 8 months to move Exposure47
- Anesthesiologist Assistants 78% skill overlap, about 8 months to move Exposure35
- Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric 61% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure48
- Physician Assistants 60% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure41
- Obstetricians and Gynecologists 58% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure39
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Anesthesiologists and AI
Will AI replace Anesthesiologists?
AI already handles 1 of the 18 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 39 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears. BLS projects employment to change by +3.2% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Anesthesiologists?
39 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 1 of the 18 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 17 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Anesthesiologists tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Provide medical care and consultation in many settings, prescribing medication and treatment and referring patients for surgery. It is the only task that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A standard-tier model or lower covers 72% of the role's importance-weighted task work, and 23% is hands-on work that no model tier covers. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Anesthesiologists, and what do they earn?
38,760 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $391,490 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +3.2% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Anesthesiologists. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/anesthesiologists
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