AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 21-1013.00
Will AI replace Marriage and Family Therapists?
Marriage and Family Therapists: AI can already handle 6 of 15 tasks; the work mostly needs a frontier-tier model.
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Every task, scored
The 15 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Marriage and Family Therapists, from most to least exposed. 6 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counsel clients on concerns, such as unsatisfactory relationships, divorce and separation, child rearing, home management, or financial difficulties. | Observed | Frontier | |
| Ask questions that will help clients identify their feelings and behaviors. | Observed | Frontier | |
| Collect information about clients, using techniques such as testing, interviewing, discussion, or observation. | Observed | Standard | |
| Maintain case files that include activities, progress notes, evaluations, and recommendations. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Provide public education and consultation to other professionals or groups regarding counseling services, issues, and methods. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Gather information from doctors, schools, social workers, juvenile counselors, law enforcement personnel, and others to make recommendations to courts for resolution of child custody or visitation disputes. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Encourage individuals and family members to develop and use skills and strategies for confronting their problems in a constructive manner. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Develop and implement individualized treatment plans addressing family relationship problems, destructive patterns of behavior, and other personal issues. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Confer with clients to develop plans for posttreatment activities. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Confer with other counselors, doctors, and professionals to analyze individual cases and to coordinate counseling services. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Determine whether clients should be counseled or referred to other specialists in such fields as medicine, psychiatry, or legal aid. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Follow up on results of counseling programs and clients' adjustments to determine effectiveness of programs. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Supervise other counselors, social service staff, and assistants. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Provide instructions to clients on how to obtain help with legal, financial, and other personal issues. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Write evaluations of parents and children for use by courts deciding divorce and custody cases, testifying in court if necessary. | Estimated | Efficient |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 3 of 15 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 12 of 15. 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 frontier-tier model or lower covers 100% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 100% of the work is something AI can address at some tier.
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
- 66,740
- Median annual wage
- $66,940
- Middle half of earners
- $50,070 to $93,840
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +12.6%
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.
- Mental Health Counselors 71% skill overlap, about 11 months to move Exposure43
- Clinical and Counseling Psychologists 67% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure56
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers 64% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure47
- Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors 63% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure60
- Art Therapists 63% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure45
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Marriage and Family Therapists and AI
Will AI replace Marriage and Family Therapists?
AI already handles 6 of the 15 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 55 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 +12.6% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Marriage and Family Therapists?
55 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. 3 of the 15 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 12 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Marriage and Family Therapists tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Counsel clients on concerns, such as unsatisfactory relationships, divorce and separation, child rearing, home management, or financial difficulties; Ask questions that will help clients identify their feelings and behaviors; Collect information about clients, using techniques such as testing, interviewing, discussion, or observation. They are three of the 6 tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 100% 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 Marriage and Family Therapists, and what do they earn?
66,740 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $66,940 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +12.6% 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: Marriage and Family Therapists. 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/marriage-and-family-therapists
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