AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 29-2042.00
Will AI replace Emergency Medical Technicians?
Emergency Medical Technicians: AI can already handle 2 of 12 tasks; the work mostly needs a standard-tier model.
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Every task, scored
The 12 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Emergency Medical Technicians, from most to least exposed. 2 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comfort and reassure patients. | Observed | Frontier | |
| Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Communicate with dispatchers or treatment center personnel to provide information about situation, to arrange reception of survivors, or to receive instructions for further treatment. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Decontaminate ambulance interior following treatment of patient with infectious disease, and report case to proper authorities. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Immobilize patient for placement on stretcher and ambulance transport, using backboard or other spinal immobilization device. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Observe, record, and report to physician the patient's condition or injury, the treatment provided, and reactions to drugs or treatment. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Perform emergency diagnostic and treatment procedures, such as stomach suction, airway management, or heart monitoring, during ambulance ride. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Maintain vehicles and medical and communication equipment, and replenish first aid equipment and supplies. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Drive mobile intensive care unit to specified location, following instructions from emergency medical dispatcher. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 1 of 12 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 11 of 12. 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 75% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 92% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 8% 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
- 180,510
- Median annual wage
- $44,470
- Middle half of earners
- $37,960 to $50,100
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +5.1%
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.
- Paramedics 83% skill overlap, about 6 months to move Exposure52
- Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians 76% skill overlap, about 9 months to move Exposure17
- Emergency Medicine Physicians 67% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure43
- Public Safety Telecommunicators 62% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure38
- Firefighters 60% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure39
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Emergency Medical Technicians and AI
Will AI replace Emergency Medical Technicians?
AI already handles 2 of the 12 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 50 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 +5.1% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Emergency Medical Technicians?
50 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 12 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 11 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Emergency Medical Technicians tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Comfort and reassure patients; Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures. They are the tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A standard-tier model or lower covers 75% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 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 Emergency Medical Technicians, and what do they earn?
180,510 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $44,470 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +5.1% 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: Emergency Medical Technicians. 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/emergency-medical-technicians
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