Will AI replace Occupational Therapy Aides?

Not as a job, but it is already doing parts of the work. Across the 15 official task statements scored for Occupational Therapy Aides (United States, SOC 31-2012), 0% of the importance-weighted core work is made of tasks today's AI could already do most of. The overall exposure score is 11 out of 100 (range 8–17, band: minimal). That is a statement about tasks, not about headcount: this measures what AI could do, not whether any employer adopts it, whether the law allows it, or whether doing the routine parts faster creates more demand for the human parts. Figures are from release 2026-q4.1.

Which tasks in “Occupational Therapy Aides” can AI already do?

The highest-scoring tasks in release 2026-q4.1 are: “Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments” (38/100, low); “Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling a…” (32/100, low); “Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security” (25/100, low). Each score comes from five published 0–4 ratings turned into a number by a published formula, and each carries the model's one-sentence reason on the page.

Which tasks in “Occupational Therapy Aides” stay human?

About 100% of this job's task weight sits in work that scores low for AI exposure. The lowest-scoring tasks in release 2026-q4.1 are: “Accompany patients on outings, providing transportation when necessary” (0/100, minimal); “Adjust and repair assistive devices and make adaptive changes to other equipment and to environments” (0/100, minimal); “Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area” (0/100, minimal). Low scores usually mean the task needs a body in a room, a legally accountable human, or trust built in real time. Those are the three things the scoring rubric treats as gates rather than obstacles.

What should someone working in “Occupational Therapy Aides” do about AI?

Start from the ledger rather than the headline: 0% of this job's weighted core work is exposed, and roughly 100% is not. The practical move is to spend more of your week on the tasks that score low, the ones above, and to get fluent at directing AI through the tasks that score high, because those are the parts that change whether or not you are ready for them. This page does not predict your job, and nothing here is career advice tailored to you: the score describes the occupation, not the person.

How is the AI exposure score for Occupational Therapy Aides calculated?

Each official task statement for the occupation is rated on five published 0–4 dimensions (output replicability, physical embodiment, licensed accountability, real-time human trust, and data availability) by claude-opus-5 using scoring prompt task_scoring_v1.0. The model never writes the score; a published formula turns the five ratings into a 0–100 number, so every score can be recomputed by hand. The occupation figure is the importance-weighted mean across 15 scored tasks. The prompt, the rubric, the formula and the full dataset are published at https://futureproof.collab365.com/method and https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1 under CC BY 4.0.

US dataswitch to UK

Occupational Therapy Aides

encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals, performing clerical, administrative and secretarial duties and adjusting and repairing assistive devices and making adaptive changes to other equipment. If that's your week, this page is about your job.

The honest answer

AI changes the edges of this job, not the middle: encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals is work software can't reach.

Your move: what you can actually do about this ↓

Where the work sits, by task weight

shifting to AI: 0%
changing shape: 0%
staying human: 100%

These bars are tasks changing hands, not people being counted out. The ledger below shows which.

Whole-job exposure score 11 out of 100 (8–17 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, across 15 scored tasks. The number is the support for the sentence above it, not a headline about anyone’s future.

How we know this

What is measured: Every published task statement for occupational therapy aides is rated on five dimensions: can a model produce the output, does the work need a body in a room, does it need a legally accountable person, does it depend on a person being trusted in the moment, and how much data exists. A published formula turns those five ratings into the score; the model never writes the number.

How the bar is built: Each task’s share of the bar is its published importance weight, so a task you do all day counts for more than one you do twice a year.

Release: 2026-q4.1, scores computed 2026-08-05. Read the full method.

What shifts is the routine end of the work: the paper around the work, not the work.

Your week, as this page understands it

Under close supervision of an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing patient and treatment room. The job title says “occupational therapy aides”. The real job is the part underneath: encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals. That is the thing someone has to be right about.

The exposed part of this job is specific, and we won’t pretend it is coming back. But occupational therapy aides is not one task. It is 15 scored ones, and they are nowhere near equally exposed. The most durable of them, on this evidence, is encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals, and the ledger below shows exactly why.

Where the work sits, by task weight

shifting to AI: 0%
changing shape: 0%
staying human: 100%

These bars are tasks changing hands, not people being counted out. The ledger below shows which.

How we know this

How the bar is built: Each task’s share of the bar is its published importance weight, so a task you do all day counts for more than one you do twice a year.

Release: 2026-q4.1, scores computed 2026-08-05. Read the full method.

Your job, task by task

These are the official task statements for this occupation, in plain English, sorted by what the evidence says is happening to each one. The official wording sits under every line so you can check the rewrite against it.

2 of this occupation's scored task statements carry a score that was measured under a different occupation's context, because the statement is shared between jobs and has only been scored once so far. Each one names the occupation it was measured under in the free routes below; none is presented as a measurement for this job.
Task clusters are not derived in this release, so the task-cluster field is empty and no Collab365 Space routing is attached to this occupation yet.

Shifting to AI

0 tasks

Tasks today’s tools can already do most of. This is the part we will not soften: where these rows are the bulk of your week, the week changes.

Nothing in this job’s scored task list landed in this group. That is the measurement, not an editorial choice, and it is worth knowing either way.

Changing shape

0 tasks

Tasks where the machine takes the producing and a person keeps the checking, the deciding, or the answering-for-it. For most jobs this is the biggest group, and it is where "transformation, not termination" is literally visible.

Nothing in this job’s scored task list landed in this group. That is the measurement, not an editorial choice, and it is worth knowing either way.

Staying human

15 tasks

Tasks that stay with a person, because they happen in the physical world, because the rules need someone accountable, or because the value is that a specific person does them.

Encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals
This work happens in the physical world: patients, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Encourage patients and attend to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Encouraging a patient and helping with their physical needs happens hands on, beside them.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 3/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Preparing and maintaining work area
This work happens in the physical world: work area, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 14 out of 100 (10–18 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Setting out materials and equipment is physical preparation, though the stock counting side is ordinary screen work.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.
Reporting to supervisors or therapists
The ratings behind this row put supervisors well outside what today's tools can do on their own.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 38 out of 100 (31–45 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: reading one thing and writing another; mistakes that are cheap to catch.
The rating behind it: Writing up how a patient did is document work, though the observations behind it come from being in the room.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 1/4 · needs an accountable person 1/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Assisting occupational therapists in planning
This work happens in the physical world: occupational therapists, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Assist occupational therapists in planning, implementing, and administering therapy programs to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance, using selected activities and special equipment.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 7 out of 100 (0–14 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; someone qualified has to answer for it; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Helping run therapy sessions with special equipment is hands on work, guided by a licensed therapist.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Observing patients' attendance, progress, attitudes and accomplishments and recording and maintaining information in client records
This work happens in the physical world: patients' attendance, progress, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 19 out of 100 (12–26 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Watching how a patient engages and behaves needs presence, even though writing it into the record does not.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 1/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Demonstrating therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games
This work happens in the physical world: therapy techniques, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Demonstrating a craft or exercise technique means physically showing it to the patient.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Performing clerical, administrative and secretarial duties, such as answering phones
This work happens in the physical world: clerical, administrative and secretarial duties, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling appointments.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 32 out of 100 (25–39 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Phones, scheduling, ordering and forms are standard office work that software already handles, apart from physically restocking shelves.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 3/4.
Adjusting and repairing assistive devices and making adaptive changes to other equipment and to environments
This work happens in the physical world: assistive devices, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Adjust and repair assistive devices and make adaptive changes to other equipment and to environments.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Adjusting or repairing a wheelchair or splint means working on the actual device.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Managing intradepartmental infection control and equipment security
This work happens in the physical world: intradepartmental infection control, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 25 out of 100 (18–32 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: the same decision, made over and over; mistakes that are cheap to catch; work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Infection control tracking and equipment logs are record keeping, but the cleaning and securing side is physical.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 1/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.
Supervising patients in choosing and completing work assignments or arts and crafts projects
This work happens in the physical world: patients, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Supervise patients in choosing and completing work assignments or arts and crafts projects.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Supervising patients as they work through an activity means being present to help and keep them safe.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

Show the other 5 tasks

Instructing patients and families in work
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: patients, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and other skills to facilitate home and work adjustment to disability.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 12 out of 100 (5–19 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Teaching someone to use adaptive equipment means guiding their hands and adapting as they try it.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 1/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 3/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Evaluating the living skills and capacities of clients with physical
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: the living skills, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Supplemental
Source: “Evaluate the living skills and capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 7 out of 100 (0–14 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; someone qualified has to answer for it; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Judging what someone can manage day to day comes from watching them do it in person.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Assisting educational specialists or clinical psychologists in administering situational or diagnostic tests to measure client's abilities or progress
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: educational specialists, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Assist educational specialists or clinical psychologists in administering situational or diagnostic tests to measure client's abilities or progress.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 4 out of 100 (0–11 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, medium confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; someone qualified has to answer for it; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Running a diagnostic test on a client means sitting with them, and a licensed specialist must oversee it.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 1/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 3/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.
Transporting patients to and from the occupational therapy work area
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: patients, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 4 · Core
Source: “Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world.
The rating behind it: Moving a patient to and from the therapy area is physical help given in person.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 1/4.
Accompanying patients on outings, providing transportation
staying human
This work happens in the physical world: patients, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.
importance 3 · Supplemental
Source: “Accompany patients on outings, providing transportation when necessary.” (O*NET task statement)
How this row was scored
Exposure score: 0 out of 100 (0–4 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high confidence.
Why it sits in this group: work that happens in the physical world; the value is that a specific person does it.
The rating behind it: Taking patients out and driving them is presence and physical assistance from start to finish.
The five ratings: output a model can produce 0/4 · needs a body in a room 4/4 · needs an accountable person 0/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 1/4.

What this job pays, and how many people do it

Median pay: $39,160a year, the middle of the range, so half earn more and half earn less.bls-oews, 2025 · May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx)
How we know this
Source: bls-oews
Reference period: May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx)
Rounding: Shown as published.
People doing this job: 4,310in the US, 2025.bls-oews · May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx)

What is deliberately not here: a forecast of how many of these jobs exist in ten years. Where an official projection exists for a market we publish it with its vintage; where it does not, we leave the space empty rather than borrow the other country’s number.

Why this is shifting

The reason is boringly specific. Almost none of this job is reading one thing and writing another (the shape today's tools are built for), because the work turns on patients, which happens with people and things rather than on a screen. The rows above are the evidence rather than the reassurance: encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals and preparing and maintaining work area. The parts that are changing are the paperwork and the tools around the job, not the middle of it, which is why this page talks about your tasks changing, not your job ending.

Your move

Over a pint: what I’d tell you if you were my friend

Start with what does not change: encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals is the middle of this job, and the evidence on this page says it stays with a person.

So, given all that: 0% of this job's task weight sits in rows the software is already learning, 0% in rows that change shape rather than disappear, and 100% in rows it is nowhere near. That is the position, measured across 15 scored tasks. It is not a forecast about you.

So the thing worth your attention is not the job going away. It is the layer around it. The routine end of the work is the part turning into software, and being the person who understands that layer is worth money.

This week: one thing

Ask the one question. Find whoever is bringing new software into your workplace (the manager, the office, whoever runs the system) and ask them what it is meant to do to the routine work, and what it is not meant to touch. Ten minutes, this week, before anyone decides it for you.

What you end up holding: a straight answer about what is actually being rolled out, and when
How long it takes: ten minutes

If there’s nobody obvious to ask, or you’d rather not ask your manager: Put the same question to your union rep, your shift lead or the person who has been there longest, in person, over a break. Same ten minutes, same answer, and you will usually get a straighter one. Write down what they say. The note is the artifact, and it tells you whether work area is in scope or not. Nothing to log into, no license needed.

Over the next 90 days

Get inside the tool rollout rather than waiting for it. Over the next ninety days, ask to be in the group that tests, checks or signs off whatever new system arrives near encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals. It is usually an unglamorous seat that nobody fights for, and it is the one that decides how the software is used on your job rather than to it.

Over the next 12 months

On this evidence I would not retrain out of this job, and I will say that plainly rather than hedge it. The task list here is dominated by work that stays with a person. What I would do with a year is get formally recognised for the layer around it (the systems, the compliance, the planning), so you are the one who understands the software instead of the one it is done to. Before you pay for anything, use CareerOneStop - Find local training. It is free, it is the Labor Department's own service, and it is listed below with the rest of the free routes.

The roads out of here

You did not come here for a career change and I am not selling you one. But one road out of here is worth knowing about, so here it is with the bill attached.

Occupational Therapy AidesOccupational Therapy Assistants
a year or morematched on shared tasks
One of the tasks on your list is on theirs in the same words: “transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area”. Take both published task lists together and about 38% of the work in that job that the software is not taking is work you are doing today.
About 38% of it you could do on Monday. The rest is the price of the ticket.
The work the two jobs share
- You already do
  “Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.”
  They do
  “Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.”
- You already do
  “Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games.”
  They do
  “Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual or creative arts or games.”
- You already do
  “Evaluate the living skills and capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.”
  They do
  “Evaluate the daily living skills or capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.”
What you would not already have: Nothing in your task list touches “maintain and promote a positive attitude toward clients and their treatment programs”, “monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement” or “select therapy activities to fit patients' needs and capabilities”. That is the part you would be learning from scratch, and it is roughly the 62% of their durable work you do not already hold.
The honest bill
Pay: $72,300 against your $39,160 (OEWS May 2025 (both)).
- The licence gate: Default-closed. This release carries no licence-register snapshot, so I could not check whether that job is regulated, which means I have to assume it might be. Before you spend a penny, look it up on the US Labor Department’s licensed-occupations finder; the free routes below link straight to it. The route is banded a year or more because of that unknown, not in spite of it.
- The entry ticket: Typical entry-level education is published for only ten occupations in this release, and neither this job nor that one is among them. So I cannot tell you whether a qualification stands in the way. Treat that as an open question to settle before you commit, not as a green light.
- What the pay gap is telling you: $72,300 against your $39,160, 84.6% more (OEWS May 2025 (both)). A real difference, not a life-changing one. Take the move for the work, not the raise.
- What you live on meanwhile: Nobody is going to pay you to retrain. This is evenings and weekends alongside the job you already have, for a year or more, and if that is not possible right now then this route is not open right now, which is worth knowing before you start. The free American Job Center service listed below will talk training funding through with you before you pay anyone.
- Is the target job itself holding up: Occupational Therapy Assistants scores 14/100 on this site’s own exposure measure (minimal), with 3% of its tasks in the top band. Employment projections are not published for this occupation in this release, so this is the exposure leg of the check only. It passed, which is the only reason it is here.
How long: A year or more, part-time, alongside the job you have. That band is set by the unchecked licence question and by the 62% of their work you would be learning, not by any one course.
See what AI is doing to occupational therapy assistants

3 moves I checked and rejected

These are the obvious-looking jumps. They are here with their reasons rather than quietly dropped, because the ones that fail are worth knowing about. It is one less thing to turn over at night.

Physical Therapist Assistants
Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area, and their equivalent is to secure patients into or onto therapy equipment. Across both published task lists that is about 5% of the durable work in that job.
Why I am not recommending it: Almost none of it is work you already do: about 5% of the durable side of that job. That is a different job, not a next step.
Look at that job’s page anyway →
Physical Therapist Aides
Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area, and their equivalent is to secure patients into or onto therapy equipment. Across both published task lists that is about 4% of the durable work in that job.
Why I am not recommending it: Almost none of it is work you already do: about 4% of the durable side of that job. That is a different job, not a next step.
Look at that job’s page anyway →
Physical Therapists
Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and…, and their equivalent is to instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home. Across both published task lists that is about 3% of the durable work in that job.
Why I am not recommending it: Almost none of it is work you already do: about 3% of the durable side of that job. That is a different job, not a next step. The pay gap is the market pricing a barrier: $102,760 against your $39,160 is 2.62× (OEWS May 2025 (both)), and you would be crossing it holding about 3% of their durable work. A gap that size with an overlap that small is a wish, not a route.
Look at that job’s page anyway →

What I’d stop worrying about

A friend tells you what not to spend fear on. This is that list.

The headline number you read somewhere
The big “X% of jobs” figures are about the whole economy, not about you. The number that describes your job is on this page: 0% of its task weight, across 15 scored tasks. Every row behind it is printed above with the source. Check ours; ignore theirs.
The headlines about your trade disappearing
They are usually about the technology, not the timetable. Changes to work like encouraging patients and attending to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals arrive through rules, insurance and money, slowly and visibly. This page tracks the task evidence and will move when it moves.
Retraining out of a job that is holding up
On this evidence I would not spend money leaving. Spend it on the layer around the job instead: the tools, the paperwork, the planning. That is where the change actually is.
The “obvious” next job everyone suggests
I checked the obvious moves and most of them did not survive. The reasons are printed with the routes above, including the pay and the gate. A move that fails on the numbers is worth knowing about so you can stop turning it over at night.

If you run a team doing this job

If you run a team doing this job, the conversation you owe them is the one on this page, and sooner than feels comfortable. Show them the ledger rather than a reassurance: the rows moving toward the software are the routine work, and the rows that are not are where you want your people visible. Ask each of them to do the this-week move and bring the list to your next one-to-one. It turns a rumour into a piece of work, and it tells you which parts of your team's week are actually at stake. And say the thing out loud that a team lead usually leaves unsaid: a shrinking team is your exposure too, so do the move yourself as well.

You are reading the United States figures

The United Kingdom splits this work across more than one official group, of which Nursing auxiliaries and assistants is the closest. The pay and employment figures are not directly comparable, and we do not average them together.

Switch to the United Kingdom page →partial match

The other groups this work is counted across:

Dental nurses

In UK official statistics this job is counted as Nursing auxiliaries and assistants and Dental nurses. Pay is shown separately for each of those groups (medians cannot be averaged together), while the task list and the scores on this page are for this group only.

Your route through this

Where to go next, and what it costs

Free, and complete

The moves above cost nothing. These are the real services that go with them: public, government-funded, and free at the point of use. Nothing on this page is behind an email address or a payment.

Anywhere in the US:
CareerOneStop - Find local training
Search what's running near you, from the Labor Department's own database, before anyone sells you a course.
Free to search; individual programs vary, and some are funded
Anywhere in the US:
American Job Center locator
An American Job Center will sit down with you for free. Find yours by ZIP code.
Free
- CareerOneStop local help hub
Anywhere in the US:
CareerOneStop - Licensed occupations finder
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Why there is no community here

Collab365, who build this site, run paid Spaces for a small number of subjects, and none of them is built for this job. We are not going to point you at the nearest one and call it a fit.

So the free services listed on this page are the whole answer, and it is the same answer we would give a friend.

Nearby moves

The jobs above, as pages you can read the same way as this one. Your job shares its core work with these. That is what the match is, and it is all it is.

Occupational Therapy Assistants →About 38% of it you could do on Monday. The rest is the price of the ticket.

Noted, and thank you. We’ll email you if a Space for occupational therapy aides launches. Nothing else.

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No Space for occupational therapy aides yet. Should there be one?

Collab365 Spaces is built by the same people as this site. We find the problems that AI and automation are creating inside one kind of work, then solve them as short courses, briefings and Blueprints. Each Space is the community too, so the research and the people doing your job are in the same place.

What a Space actually is, in full

Collab365 launches new communities where the need is real. If one for occupational therapy aides existed, with researched problems, courses and people in the same boat, would you want in?

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No deadline on any of this. The page will still be here, and the data is refreshed on a published schedule rather than when someone wants a headline.

Questions people ask about this job

Will AI replace Occupational Therapy Aides?: Not as a job, but it is already doing parts of the work. Across the 15 official task statements scored for Occupational Therapy Aides (United States, SOC 31-2012), 0% of the importance-weighted core work is made of tasks today's AI could already do most of. The overall exposure score is 11 out of 100 (range 8–17, band: minimal). That is a statement about tasks, not about headcount: this measures what AI could do, not whether any employer adopts it, whether the law allows it, or whether doing the routine parts faster creates more demand for the human parts. Figures are from release 2026-q4.1.
Which tasks in “Occupational Therapy Aides” can AI already do?: The highest-scoring tasks in release 2026-q4.1 are: “Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments” (38/100, low); “Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling a…” (32/100, low); “Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security” (25/100, low). Each score comes from five published 0–4 ratings turned into a number by a published formula, and each carries the model's one-sentence reason on the page.
Which tasks in “Occupational Therapy Aides” stay human?: About 100% of this job's task weight sits in work that scores low for AI exposure. The lowest-scoring tasks in release 2026-q4.1 are: “Accompany patients on outings, providing transportation when necessary” (0/100, minimal); “Adjust and repair assistive devices and make adaptive changes to other equipment and to environments” (0/100, minimal); “Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area” (0/100, minimal). Low scores usually mean the task needs a body in a room, a legally accountable human, or trust built in real time. Those are the three things the scoring rubric treats as gates rather than obstacles.
What should someone working in “Occupational Therapy Aides” do about AI?: Start from the ledger rather than the headline: 0% of this job's weighted core work is exposed, and roughly 100% is not. The practical move is to spend more of your week on the tasks that score low, the ones above, and to get fluent at directing AI through the tasks that score high, because those are the parts that change whether or not you are ready for them. This page does not predict your job, and nothing here is career advice tailored to you: the score describes the occupation, not the person.
How is the AI exposure score for Occupational Therapy Aides calculated?: Each official task statement for the occupation is rated on five published 0–4 dimensions (output replicability, physical embodiment, licensed accountability, real-time human trust, and data availability) by claude-opus-5 using scoring prompt task_scoring_v1.0. The model never writes the score; a published formula turns the five ratings into a 0–100 number, so every score can be recomputed by hand. The occupation figure is the importance-weighted mean across 15 scored tasks. The prompt, the rubric, the formula and the full dataset are published at https://futureproof.collab365.com/method and https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1 under CC BY 4.0.

Where these numbers come from

Worth knowing about these figures

The match between this job and its counterpart in the other country is partial, so the two pages count slightly different groups of people.
2 of this occupation's scored task statements carry a score that was measured under a different occupation's context, because the statement is shared between jobs and has only been scored once so far. Each one names the occupation it was measured under in the free routes below; none is presented as a measurement for this job.
Task clusters are not derived in this release, so the task-cluster field is empty and no Collab365 Space routing is attached to this occupation yet.

Task statements: onet-dbProcessing: catalogue-bridge → onet-im-rt-weighting → task-scoring → score-aggregation
Task weights: onet-db (im-rt)
Scores: Rubric task_scoring_v1.0, model claude-opus-5, computed 2026-08-05.
Pay and employment: bls-oews (May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx))bls-oews (May 2025 estimates (national_M2025_dl.xlsx))

Figures on this page come from release 2026-q4.1, published 2026-08-05. Every release keeps its own permanent address, so a figure you cite in March is still there, unchanged, in November.

The plain-English wording on this page is assembled directly from the task statements and the published ratings, not written by hand for this occupation. That is why it is specific, and it is also why we say so.

The routes and free resources further up are today’s, not the release’s (last reviewed 2026-08-05). A route is an offer, not a historical fact, so it moves on its own clock.

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Everything on this site is published under CC BY 4.0. Quote it, chart it, sell something built on it. Just say where it came from, and cite the dated release rather than the site, so the figure you quote stays checkable.

Plain text

Collab365 (2026). Collab365 Futureproof: task-level AI exposure for US and UK occupations, release 2026-q4.1 (methodVersion 2.0.0, promptVersion task_scoring_v1.0). https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1. Licensed CC BY 4.0. Built with O*NET data (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); ONS data (Open Government Licence v3.0); GAISI task framework (arXiv:2507.22748, MIT); BLS data (public domain).

BibTeX

@misc{collab365futureproof2026q41,
  title        = {Collab365 Futureproof: task-level AI exposure for US and UK occupations, release 2026-q4.1},
  author       = {{Collab365}},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1},
  note         = {Release 2026-q4.1, methodVersion 2.0.0, promptVersion task_scoring_v1.0, CC BY 4.0}
}

Permalink

https://futureproof.collab365.com/data/2026-q4.1

Data as of release 2026-q4.1, published 2026-08-05. Releases never change after publication; when the figures move, a new dated release is published beside this one and this one stays exactly where it is.