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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Recreational Therapists?
Task-level automation exposure for Recreational Therapists: 11 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
39%
weighted task index
11 of 11 tasks scored
Median Salary
$61,960 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
14,930 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+4.8%
employment change
1,400 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 49 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$28,140 – $98,170
Highest medians
California $98,170
District of Columbia $95,640
New Hampshire $82,280
Nevada $78,730
Washington $77,860
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $28,140
Mississippi $39,560
Kansas $40,010
Arkansas $42,670
South Dakota $46,850
State figures come from the 29-1125 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 39%
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 55%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 18%
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 3/100
Low
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
11 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) 0%
0 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 71%
8 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 29%
3 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
#393 · Core · 30% automatable
Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological needs.
interpersonal — Caregiver technique training is live and relational
Train patients, family members, or caregivers in techniques for managing disabilities or illnesses.
#392 · Core · 15% automatable
Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being.
interpersonal — Psychological therapy requires live human therapeutic presence
Treat patients using psychological therapies.
#395 · Core · 45% automatable
Plan, organize, direct, and participate in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation, help them integrate into the community, and prevent further medical problems.
decision support — Draft non-medical plans; clinician validates and owns
Develop treatment plans that use non-medical therapies.
#387 · Core · 49% automatable
Observe, analyze, and record patients' participation, reactions, and progress during treatment sessions, modifying treatment programs as needed.
interpersonal — Patient history requires live elicitation and judgment
Monitor patient progress or responses to treatments. Record patient medical histories.
#388 · Core · 45% automatable
Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy.
decision support — Draft non-medical plans; clinician validates and owns
Develop treatment plans that use non-medical therapies.
#394 · Core · 43% automatable
Obtain information from medical records, medical staff, family members and the patients, themselves, to assess patients' capabilities, needs and interests.
information retrieval — History extraction aided; patient interaction human
Gather medical information from patient histories. Collect medical information from patients, family members, or other medical professionals.
#391 · Core · 40% automatable
Confer with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs.
interpersonal — Treatment planning collaboration is accountable clinical work
Collaborate with healthcare professionals to plan or provide treatment.
#390 · Core · 55% automatable
Counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities.
decision support — Wellness advice needs tailoring and clinical accountability
Provide health and wellness advice to patients, program participants, or caregivers.
#389 · Core · 20% automatable
Encourage clients with special needs and circumstances to acquire new skills and get involved in health-promoting leisure activities, such as sports, games, arts and crafts, and gardening.
interpersonal — Encouraging life-skill development is relational, sustained human work
Encourage patients or clients to develop life skills.
#396 · Core · 56% automatable
Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression.
text generation — Summarize diagnostic and care activities into reports
Prepare reports summarizing patient diagnostic or care activities. Inform medical professionals regarding patient conditions and care.
#20893 · Core · 38% automatable
Develop discharge plans for patients.
decision support — Medical plans need exam, liability, and clinical judgment
Develop medical treatment plans.
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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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