AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 29-2043.00
Will AI replace Paramedics?
Paramedics: AI can already handle 1 of 13 tasks; the work mostly needs a standard-tier model.
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample: send this role and up to nine others, and a founder sends a board-pack PDF within two business days.
Every task, scored
The 13 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Paramedics, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Administer drugs, orally or by injection, or perform intravenous procedures. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Comfort and reassure patients. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Instruct emergency medical response team about emergency interventions to ensure correct application of procedures. | 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 cardiac care, such as cardioversion and manual defibrillation. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Perform emergency invasive intervention before delivering patient to an acute care facility. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Perform emergency pharmacological interventions. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Coordinate with treatment center personnel to obtain patients' vital statistics and medical history, to determine the circumstances of the emergency, and to administer emergency treatment. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Operate equipment, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators, or bag valve mask resuscitators, in advanced life support environments. | Estimated | Efficient |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 13 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 13 of 13. 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 92% 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
- 100,610
- Median annual wage
- $60,600
- Middle half of earners
- $49,660 to $73,470
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +5.0%
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.
- Emergency Medical Technicians 83% skill overlap, about 6 months to move Exposure50
- Emergency Medicine Physicians 67% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure43
- Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians 66% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure17
- Firefighters 61% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure39
- Public Safety Telecommunicators 58% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure38
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Paramedics and AI
Will AI replace Paramedics?
AI already handles 1 of the 13 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 52 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 +5.0% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Paramedics?
52 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. 0 of the 13 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 13 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Paramedics tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures. 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 92% 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 Paramedics, and what do they earn?
100,610 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $60,600 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +5.0% 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: Paramedics. 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/paramedics
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample. Send this role and up to nine others, with no employee data, and a founder sends a PDF in board-pack format within two business days.
A founder replies within one business day.