Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors
Occupation · SOC 21-1011.00
Counsel and advise individuals with alcohol, tobacco, drug, or other problems, such as gambling and eating disorders. May counsel individuals, families, or groups or engage in prevention programs.
Also called: Addictions Counselor · Chemical Dependency Counselor (CD Counselor) · Counselor · Substance Abuse Counselor (SA Counselor) · Case Manager · Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADAC) · Chemical Dependency Professional · Clinical Counselor · Drug and Alcohol Treatment Specialist (DATS) · Prevention Specialist · Addiction Counselor · Addiction Recovery Specialist
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-21-1011-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot,
where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed
Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of
usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Use as a copilot
Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking —
staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.
Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary. · 3.9%
Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes. · 3.7%
Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions. · 2.5%
Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed
conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.
Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary. · 96.4% need a human
Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions. · 95.2% need a human
Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes. · 80.5% need a human
↔53rd-percentile task overlap — yet
observed AI use leans 7332% copilot, not hand-off (AEI)
. What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is
actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions
within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions
that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows —
the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with
data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
Measure
Rank vs all occupations
Percentile
Score
Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High
76th
1.0
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Low
33rd
0.3
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone
(α 0.1), with simple added tooling
(β 0.2), and including AI-powered software
(γ 0.3). Higher means more of the job's
tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
Most of this job's tasks can be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman), which tends to track with higher digital and AI exposure.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.0 ·
20th percentile among occupations ·
Low
How AI is actually used in this job
Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic
Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these
task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations —
not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.
Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary.
2.2%
Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions.
1.7%
Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
1.3%
Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status.
0.4%
Complete and maintain accurate records or reports regarding the patients' histories and progress, services provided, or other required information.
0.3%
Develop client treatment plans based on research, clinical experience, and client histories.
0.2%
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08
occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate,
many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the
international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task
overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors sits at the 53rd percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure eased from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page.
The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the
ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Working with AI in this job
How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic
Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI
assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the
collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.
Augmentation vs. automation
73.3% working with AI · 19.8% handed to AI
Most common way people use AI here
Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach
Typical AI autonomy
4.0 / 5
· higher = AI acts more independently
Used for work (vs. personal / coursework)
14.3%
What people delegate to AI
The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work
with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of
the job.
Task
How
Usage
Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary.
Learning
3.9%
Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
Learning
3.7%
Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions.
Learning
2.5%
Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status.
Learning
0.8%
Where a human is still needed
Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful
read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.
Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary.
96.4%
Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions.
95.2%
Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
80.5%
Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status.
76.5%
What people most often hand AI here
Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this
occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its
share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points,
not endorsed instructions.
Help me provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary.
From: Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary. · 3.9% of measured AI use · learning
Help me counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
From: Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes. · 3.7% of measured AI use · learning
Help me instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions.
From: Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions. · 2.5% of measured AI use · learning
Help me modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status.
From: Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status. · 0.8% of measured AI use · learning
Tasks
All 23 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance.
Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale
(higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies
across all occupations.
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Related experience
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Preparation level
SVP (8.0 and above) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI
exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real
cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
▸Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors sit at the 53rd percentile of AI task overlap among U.S. occupations
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors rank in the 53rd percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 73% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors sit at the 53rd percentile of AI task overlap among U.S. occupations
• Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors rank in the 53rd percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 73% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2)
Source: Singulariki — "Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1011-00
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means
what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
Sources for this page
Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not
hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each
measure does and does not mean.
O*NET 30.3U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1011-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1011-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-21-1011-00,
title = {Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1011-00}
}
Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.
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