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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Pharmacists?
Task-level automation exposure for Pharmacists: 21 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
48%
weighted task index
21 of 21 tasks scored
Median Salary
$140,910 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Very High
321,970 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+5.2%
employment change
12,500 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 54 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$111,270 – $167,310
Highest medians
Alaska $167,310
Oregon $165,960
California $164,610
Hawaii $163,220
Washington $160,610
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $111,270
Rhode Island $128,180
Guam $129,090
Louisiana $132,410
Mississippi $133,230
State figures come from the 29-1051 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 48%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 10%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 67%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 19%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 71/100
High
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
21 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 32%
7 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 38%
8 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 30%
6 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#1808 · Core · 80% automatable
Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
data analysis — Patient info verification against records, human confirms
Verify accuracy of patient information.
#1815 · Core · 45% automatable
Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
decision support — Clinical advice needs licensed accountability and context
Collaborate with healthcare professionals to plan or provide treatment. Advise medical personnel regarding healthcare issues.
#1823 · Core · 24% automatable
Work in hospitals or clinics or for Health Management Organizations (HMOs), dispensing prescriptions, serving as a medical team consultant, or specializing in specific drug therapy areas, such as oncology or nuclear pharmacotherapy.
decision support — Prescribing therapy requires licensed clinical accountability
Prescribe treatments or therapies. Prescribe medications.
#1809 · Core · 49% automatable
Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
decision support — Treatment-effect advice needs clinical tailoring
Communicate detailed medical information to patients or family members. Advise patients on effects of health conditions or treatments.
#1813 · Core · 15% automatable
Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
decision support — Chronic disease management needs clinical judgment
Treat chronic diseases or disorders.
#1810 · Core · 77% automatable
Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.
data analysis — Trend and relationship detection in data
Analyze data to identify trends or relationships among variables. Analyze health-related data.
#1812 · Core · 72% automatable
Maintain records, such as pharmacy files, patient profiles, charge system files, inventories, control records for radioactive nuclei, or registries of poisons, narcotics, or controlled drugs.
data analysis — Facility records need human verification and compliance
Maintain medical facility records.
#1819 · Core · 15% automatable
Prepare sterile solutions or infusions for use in surgical procedures, emergency rooms, or patients' homes.
physical manipulation — Medication preparation needs precise hands-on work
Prepare medications or medical solutions.
#1816 · Core · 15% automatable
Compound and dispense medications as prescribed by doctors and dentists, by calculating, weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients, or oversee these activities.
physical manipulation — Medication preparation needs precise hands-on work
Prepare medications or medical solutions.
#1824 · Core · 59% automatable
Assess the identity, strength, or purity of medications.
data analysis — Trend and relationship detection in data
Analyze data to identify trends or relationships among variables. Analyze chemical compounds or substances.
#1820 · Core · 35% automatable
Plan, implement, or maintain procedures for mixing, packaging, or labeling pharmaceuticals, according to policy and legal requirements, to ensure quality, security, and proper disposal.
decision support — Protocols need clinical accountability and context
Determine protocols for medical procedures.
#1825 · Core · 30% automatable
Teach pharmacy students serving as interns in preparation for their graduation or licensure.
interpersonal — Provider training is clinical, hands-on, accountable
Train medical providers.
#1818 · Core · 55% automatable
Refer patients to other health professionals or agencies when appropriate.
decision support — Clinical referral judgment needs licensed human accountability
Refer patients to other healthcare practitioners or health resources.
#1811 · Core · 70% automatable
Order and purchase pharmaceutical supplies, medical supplies, or drugs, maintaining stock and storing and handling it properly.
data analysis — Medical supply inventory records and thresholds automatable
Maintain inventory of medical supplies or equipment. Order medical supplies or equipment.
#1822 · Core · 38% automatable
Manage pharmacy operations, hiring or supervising staff, performing administrative duties, or buying or selling non-pharmaceutical merchandise.
interpersonal — Marketing healthcare services needs persuasion and trust
Merchandise healthcare products or services. Manage healthcare operations.
#1826 · Core · 52% automatable
Publish educational information for other pharmacists, doctors, or patients.
interpersonal — Medical research presentation needs human delivery
Present medical research reports.
#1814 · Core · 55% automatable
Advise customers on the selection of medication brands, medical equipment, or healthcare supplies.
decision support — Assistive device recommendations need client-specific assessment
Recommend types of assistive devices.
#1821 · Core · 62% automatable
Assay radiopharmaceuticals, verify rates of disintegration, and calculate the volume required to produce the desired results, to ensure proper dosages.
text generation — Write test result reports from data
Analyze test results. Measure physical or chemical properties of materials or objects. Analyze laboratory findings. Document test results.
#20404 · Core · 30% automatable
Offer health promotion or prevention activities, such as training people to use blood pressure devices or diabetes monitors.
interpersonal — Patient assistive-equipment instruction is hands-on care
Instruct patients in the use of assistive equipment.
#20406 · Core · 72% automatable
Update or troubleshoot pharmacy information databases.
data analysis — Facility records need human verification and compliance
Maintain medical facility records.
#20405 · Supplemental · 72% automatable
Contact insurance companies to resolve billing issues.
information retrieval — Extracts and checks insurance data against criteria
Review customer insurance information. Process medical billing information.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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