Often handed to AI
Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.
- Schedule appointments for patients. · 0.3%
Medical Assistants
Occupation · SOC 31-9092.00
Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician.
Also called: Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) · Chiropractor Assistant · Doctor's Assistant · Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) · Clinical Medical Assistant · Health Assistant · Ophthalmic Assistant · Ophthalmological Assistant · Optometric Assistant · Outpatient Surgery Assistant · Autopsy Assistant · Bilingual Medical Assistant
Job family: Healthcare Support Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-31-9092-00/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.
- Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. · 2.3%
- Change dressings on wounds. · 0.4%
Keep a human in the loop
Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.
- Change dressings on wounds. · 100.0% need a human
- Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. · 93.8% need a human
- Schedule appointments for patients. · 93.5% need a human
Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- Growing fast employment outlook (+12.5% by 2034)
- 112,300 openings/yr
- Low AI exposure
- Observed AI use leans augmentation
- Median pay $44,200/yr
- Work is mostly on-site (not teleworkable)
37th-percentile task overlap — yet about 112,300 openings a year (+12.5% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 6074% 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.) Moderate | 52nd | 0.1 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Moderate | 46th | 0.5 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Low | 18th | 0.1 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.2), with simple added tooling (β 0.4), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.5). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.
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 0.3 · 39th percentile among occupations · Moderate
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.
| Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. | 0.3% | |
| Change dressings on wounds. | 0.2% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | Growing fast · +12.5% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 112,300 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 811,000 → 912,200 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
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.
Medical Assistants sits at the 63rd 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.
35% mean task exposure (2025)
63rd percentile of 427 placed occupations
−4 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Assistants · 3256 | 35% | Gradient 1 |
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 | 60.7% working with AI · 21.1% handed to AI |
| Most common way people use AI here | Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach |
| Typical AI autonomy | 3.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently |
| Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) | 7.4% |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. | Learning | 2.3% |
| Change dressings on wounds. | Learning | 0.4% |
| Schedule appointments for patients. | Directive | 0.3% |
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.
| Change dressings on wounds. | 100.0% | |
| Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. | 93.8% | |
| Schedule appointments for patients. | 93.5% |
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 explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients.From: Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. · 2.3% of measured AI use · learning
-
Help me change dressings on wounds.From: Change dressings on wounds. · 0.4% of measured AI use · learning
-
Help me schedule appointments for patients.From: Schedule appointments for patients. · 0.3% of measured AI use · directive
Tasks
All 20 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies. Core · importance 4.8
- Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height. Core · importance 4.8
- Explain treatment procedures, medications, diets, or physicians' instructions to patients. Core · importance 4.7
- Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records. Core · importance 4.7
- Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean. Core · importance 4.7
- Collect blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, log the specimens, and prepare them for testing. Core · importance 4.7
- Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician. Core · importance 4.6
- Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures. Core · importance 4.6
- Perform routine laboratory tests and sample analyses. Core · importance 4.6
- Greet and log in patients arriving at office or clinic. Core · importance 4.6
- Perform general office duties, such as answering telephones, taking dictation, or completing insurance forms. Core · importance 4.5
- Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician. Core · importance 4.5
- Authorize drug refills and provide prescription information to pharmacies. Core · importance 4.4
- Change dressings on wounds. Core · importance 4.4
- Schedule appointments for patients. Core · importance 4.2
- Inventory and order medical, lab, or office supplies or equipment. Core · importance 4.1
- Contact medical facilities or departments to schedule patients for tests or admission. Core · importance 4.0
- Operate x-ray, electrocardiogram (EKG), or other equipment to administer routine diagnostic tests. Core · importance 4.0
- Set up medical laboratory equipment. Core · importance 3.7
- Keep financial records or perform other bookkeeping duties, such as handling credit or collections or mailing monthly statements to patients. Supplemental · importance 3.6
Work activities
- Interview patients to gather medical information.
- Assess physical conditions of patients to aid in diagnosis or treatment.
- Move patients to or from treatment areas.
- Prepare patients physically for medical procedures.
- Record vital statistics or other health information.
- Give medications or immunizations.
- Collect biological specimens from patients.
- Explain technical medical information to patients.
- Administer basic health care or medical treatments.
- Assist practitioners to perform medical procedures.
- Control prescription refills or authorizations.
- Clean patient rooms or patient treatment rooms.
- Prepare patient treatment areas for use.
- Dispose of biomedical waste in accordance with standards.
- Clean medical equipment.
- Schedule patient procedures or appointments.
- Apply bandages, dressings, or splints.
- Provide customer service to clients or users.
- Greet customers, patrons, or visitors.
- Perform clerical work in medical settings.
- Process medical billing information.
- Inventory medical supplies or equipment.
- Conduct diagnostic tests to determine patient health.
- Prepare medical instruments or equipment for use.
- Operate medical equipment.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
Transferable skills
| Social Perceptiveness | 4.0 | |
| Coordination | 3.5 | |
| Service Orientation | 3.5 | |
| Instructing | 3.1 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.0 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.0 | |
| Time Management | 3.0 |
Abilities
| Oral Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Written Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Oral Expression | 4.0 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 3.9 | |
| Near Vision | 3.9 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.9 | |
| Written Expression | 3.8 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.8 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 3.5 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 3.3 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.3 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.1 | |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.1 | |
| Perceptual Speed | 3.0 | |
| Arm-Hand Steadiness | 3.0 | |
| Finger Dexterity | 3.0 |
Essential skills
| Active Listening | 3.9 | |
| Speaking | 3.9 | |
| Reading Comprehension | 3.8 | |
| Critical Thinking | 3.6 | |
| Monitoring | 3.5 | |
| Writing | 3.4 | |
| Active Learning | 3.3 | |
| Learning Strategies | 3.1 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Showing the top 40 of 43.
Tools & technology
Work context
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.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
- Typical entry-level education
- Postsecondary nondegree award · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
- Preparation level
- SVP (6.0 to < 7.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Health Professions and Related Programs . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| High School Diploma | 20.5% | |
| Bachelor's Degree | 17.5% | |
| Some College Courses | 17.2% | |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 0.1% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Work styles
| Dependability | 7.0 | |
| Attention to Detail | 6.0 | |
| Integrity | 5.0 | |
| Cautiousness | 4.0 | |
| Cooperation | 3.0 |
Interest areas
| Health Care Service | 6.6 | |
| Office Work | 4.3 | |
| Social Service | 3.2 | |
| Personal Service | 3.0 | |
| Medical Science | 2.7 | |
| Teaching/Education | 2.5 | |
| Physical/Manual Labor | 2.5 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Conventional | 5.8 | |
| Social | 4.8 | |
| Realistic | 4.1 | |
| Investigative | 3.8 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $35,020 |
| 25th percentile | $37,610 |
| Median (50th) | $44,200 |
| 75th percentile | $48,160 |
| 90th percentile | $57,830 |
| People employed | 793,460 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector | 750,930 | $44,080 |
| Offices of Chiropractors · National industry | 26,830 | $36,360 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 15,010 | $45,760 |
| Offices of Optometrists · National industry | 11,260 | $37,640 |
| Temporary Help Services · National industry | 8,690 | $45,760 |
| Educational Services · Sector | 8,510 | $47,550 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 4,760 | $47,080 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 4,710 | $45,520 |
| Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers · National industry | 3,740 | $39,330 |
| Offices of Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists, and Audiologists · National industry | 3,700 | $42,830 |
| Residential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities · National industry | 1,360 | $39,770 |
| Retail Trade · Sector | 1,160 | $43,520 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Offices of Chiropractors · National industry | 35.74× | 26,830 |
| Offices of Optometrists · National industry | 14.34× | 11,260 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector | 6.32× | 750,930 |
| Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers · National industry | 2.35× | 3,740 |
| Offices of Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapists, and Audiologists · National industry | 1.51× | 3,700 |
| Residential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities · National industry | 1.02× | 1,360 |
| Temporary Help Services · National industry | 0.64× | 8,690 |
| Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians) · National industry | 0.61× | 760 |
Related occupations
Part of the Healthcare & Human Services career cluster.
- Surgical Assistants · 29-9093.00 Compare →
- Ophthalmic Medical Technicians · 29-2057.00 Compare →
- Registered Nurses · 29-1141.00 Compare →
- Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses · 29-2061.00 Compare →
- Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians · 29-2031.00 Compare →
- Physical Therapist Aides · 31-2022.00 Compare →
- Nursing Assistants · 31-1131.00 Compare →
- Dental Assistants · 31-9091.00 Compare →
- Medical Records Specialists · 29-2072.00 Compare →
- Ophthalmic Medical Technologists · 29-2099.05 Compare →
- Pediatric Surgeons · 29-1243.00 Compare →
- Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric · 29-1242.00 Compare →
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 Medical Assistants — 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.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Postsecondary nondegree award · typical entry level
- Job zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Health Professions and Related Programs · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 63rd percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Medical Assistants show 37th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 112,300 annual U.S. openings
- Medical Assistants rank in the 37th 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
- The occupation is projected to see about 112,300 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+12.5%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $44,200, across about 793,460 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
- Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 61% 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
Medical Assistants show 37th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 112,300 annual U.S. openings • Medical Assistants rank in the 37th 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) • The occupation is projected to see about 112,300 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+12.5%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $44,200, across about 793,460 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 61% 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 — "Medical Assistants". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9092-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
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 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Medical Assistants." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “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-31-9092-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Medical Assistants. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-31-9092-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-31-9092-00,
title = {Medical Assistants},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “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-31-9092-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.