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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Physician Assistants?
Task-level automation exposure for Physician Assistants: 12 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
35%
weighted task index
12 of 12 tasks scored
Median Salary
$135,880 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
High
162,150 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+21.1%
employment change
11,500 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 51 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$104,960 – $165,690
Highest medians
New Jersey $165,690
California $165,650
Washington $164,360
Hawaii $164,050
New York $160,880
Lowest medians
Alabama $104,960
Mississippi $105,920
Georgia $115,390
Tennessee $118,240
Arkansas $118,430
State figures come from the 29-1071 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 35%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 49%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 17%
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 70/100
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
12 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) 5%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 54%
6 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 41%
5 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 →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- New 08/2021 · Occupational Expert
Refer patients to other healthcare providers.
Constituent Tasks
#4075 · Core · 42% automatable
Make tentative diagnoses and decisions about management and treatment of patients.
decision support — AI suggests differentials; clinician examines and owns diagnosis
Diagnose medical conditions.
#4074 · Core · 58% automatable
Interpret diagnostic test results for deviations from normal.
visual inspection — Image interpretation assists; radiologist owns diagnosis
Analyze test data or images to inform diagnosis or treatment.
#4078 · Core · 24% automatable
Prescribe therapy or medication with physician approval.
decision support — Prescribing therapy requires licensed clinical accountability
Prescribe treatments or therapies. Prescribe medications.
#4076 · Core · 46% automatable
Obtain, compile, and record patient medical data, including health history, progress notes, and results of physical examination.
interpersonal — Patient history requires live elicitation and judgment
Collect medical information from patients, family members, or other medical professionals. Record patient medical histories.
#4073 · Core · 12% automatable
Examine patients to obtain information about their physical condition.
visual inspection — Patient physical assessment is hands-on clinical work
Examine patients to assess general physical condition.
#4077 · Core · 45% automatable
Administer or order diagnostic tests, such as x-ray, electrocardiogram, and laboratory tests.
decision support — Clinical ordering requires licensed human accountability
Order medical diagnostic or clinical tests.
#4080 · Core · 55% automatable
Instruct and counsel patients about prescribed therapeutic regimens, normal growth and development, family planning, emotional problems of daily living, and health maintenance.
decision support — Wellness advice needs tailoring and clinical accountability
Provide health and wellness advice to patients, program participants, or caregivers.
#4079 · Core · 4% automatable
Perform therapeutic procedures, such as injections, immunizations, suturing and wound care, and infection management.
physical manipulation — Immunization requires hands-on injection
Immunize patients. Administer intravenous medications.
#4083 · Core · 41% automatable
Visit and observe patients on hospital rounds or house calls, updating charts, ordering therapy, and reporting back to physician.
interpersonal — Patient history requires live elicitation and judgment
Monitor patient progress or responses to treatments. Record patient medical histories. Prescribe treatments or therapies.
#4081 · Core · 5% automatable
Provide physicians with assistance during surgery or complicated medical procedures.
physical manipulation — Sterile hands-on surgical assistance
Assist healthcare practitioners during surgery.
#4082 · Core · 25% automatable
Supervise and coordinate activities of technicians and technical assistants.
interpersonal — Patient care supervision is live clinical leadership
Supervise patient care personnel.
#4084 · Core · 70% automatable
Order medical and laboratory supplies and equipment.
decision support — Medical supply ordering via systems; human approves
Order medical supplies or equipment.
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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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