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Recreational Therapists

instructing patient in activities and techniques, observing, analyzing and recording patients' participation, reactions and progress during treatment sessions and developing treatment plan to meet needs of patient. If that's your week, this page is about your job.

The honest answer

AI changes the edges of this job, not the middle: instructing patient in activities and techniques is work software can't reach.

Your move: what you can actually do about this ↓

What shifts is preparing and submitting reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression: the overhead at the edges, not the middle you trained for.

Your week, as this page understands it

Plan, direct, or coordinate medically-approved recreation programs for patients in hospitals, nursing homes, or other institutions. Activities include sports, trips, dramatics, social activities, and crafts. May assess a patient condition and recommend appropriate recreational activity. The job title says “recreational therapists”. The real job is the part underneath: instructing patient in activities and techniques. 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 recreational therapists is not one task. It is 11 scored ones, and they are nowhere near equally exposed. The most durable of them, on this evidence, is instructing patient in activities and techniques, and the ledger below shows exactly why.

Where the work sits, by task weight

shifting to AI
0%
changing shape
26%
staying human
74%

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

Whole-job exposure score 22 out of 100 (1629 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, across 11 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 recreational therapists 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.

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.

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

3 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.

  • Developing treatment plan to meet needs of patient

    The software now makes the first pass at treatment plan, but someone has to be answerable for the result, and it cannot be the software. So the job becomes checking and deciding rather than producing.

    importance 5 · Core
    Source:Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 48 out of 100 (4155 allowing for uncertainty): partial exposure, medium confidence.

    Why it sits in this group: reading one thing and writing another; the same decision, made over and over; someone qualified has to answer for it.

    The rating behind it: Building a treatment plan from assessment notes is document work software drafts well, with a qualified therapist responsible for it.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 0/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 3/4.

  • Preparing and submitting reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression

    The software now makes the first pass at reports, but someone has to be answerable for the result, and it cannot be the software. So the job becomes checking and deciding rather than producing.

    importance 4 · Core
    Source:Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 56 out of 100 (4963 allowing for uncertainty): partial exposure, medium confidence.

    Why it sits in this group: reading one thing and writing another; the same decision, made over and over; someone qualified has to answer for it.

    The rating behind it: Writing up progress reports and charts from session notes is documentation software drafts well for a therapist to approve.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 0/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 0/4 · how much data exists 3/4.

  • Developing discharge plans for patients

    The software now makes the first pass at discharge plans, but someone has to be answerable for the result, and it cannot be the software. So the job becomes checking and deciding rather than producing.

    importance 4 · Core
    Source:Develop discharge plans for patients.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 48 out of 100 (4155 allowing for uncertainty): partial exposure, medium confidence.

    Why it sits in this group: reading one thing and writing another; the same decision, made over and over; someone qualified has to answer for it.

    The rating behind it: Discharge plans follow set formats and draw on the record, so software can produce a solid draft for the therapist.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 3/4 · needs a body in a room 0/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 1/4 · how much data exists 3/4.

Staying human

8 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.

  • Instructing patient in activities and techniques

    This work happens in the physical world: patient, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.

    importance 5 · Core
    Source:Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological needs.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 3 out of 100 (010 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: Teaching someone a sport, dance or relaxation technique happens beside them, adapting to how they respond.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 1/4 · needs a body in a room 3/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 3/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

  • Counseling and encouraging patients to develop leisure activities

    This work happens in the physical world: patients, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.

    importance 4 · Core
    Source:Counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 7 out of 100 (311 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high 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: Encouraging a patient into new activities works through a relationship built over time.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 1/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 3/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

  • Observing, analyzing and recording patients' participation, reactions and progress during treatment sessions, modifying treatment programs

    This work happens in the physical world: patients' participation, reactions and progress during treatment sessions, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.

    importance 5 · Core
    Source:Observe, analyze, and record patients' participation, reactions, and progress during treatment sessions, modifying treatment programs as needed.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 13 out of 100 (620 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: Watching how a patient responds needs someone in the room, though writing up the notes afterwards is easier to automate.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

  • Obtaining information from medical records

    The value here is that a specific person handles information and stands behind it. That is earned, not computed.

    importance 4 · Core
    Source:Obtain information from medical records, medical staff, family members and the patients, themselves, to assess patients' capabilities, needs and interests.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 34 out of 100 (2741 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, medium confidence.

    Why it sits in this group: reading one thing and writing another; the same decision, made over and over; the value is that a specific person does it.

    The rating behind it: Pulling information out of records is easy for software, but families and patients tell you things only in conversation.

    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 2/4 · how much data exists 3/4.

  • Conferring with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs

    The value here is that a specific person handles members of treatment team and stands behind it. That is earned, not computed.

    importance 4 · Core
    Source:Confer with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 23 out of 100 (1630 allowing for uncertainty): low exposure, medium confidence.

    Why it sits in this group: the value is that a specific person does it.

    The rating behind it: Team meetings work through discussion between colleagues who know the patient.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 1/4 · needs an accountable person 1/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 2/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

  • Encouraging clients with special needs and circumstances to acquire new skills and get involved in health-promoting leisure activities

    This work happens in the physical world: clients, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.

    importance 4 · Core
    Source: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.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 7 out of 100 (014 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: Getting people with complex needs to try something new depends on the personal encouragement of someone alongside them.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 1/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 3/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

  • Planning, organizing, directing and participating in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation

    This work happens in the physical world: treatment programs, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.

    importance 5 · Core
    Source: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.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 10 out of 100 (317 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: Programme plans can be drafted, but running the activities means being there with the patients.

    The five ratings: output a model can produce 2/4 · needs a body in a room 2/4 · needs an accountable person 2/4 · needs to be trusted in the moment 3/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

Show the other 1 task
  • Conducting therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-

    staying human

    This work happens in the physical world: therapy sessions, in a real place. Software cannot follow it there.

    importance 5 · Core
    Source:Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being.” (O*NET task statement)
    How this row was scored

    Exposure score: 2 out of 100 (06 allowing for uncertainty): minimal exposure, high 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: A therapy session is the relationship itself, delivered in person by a qualified therapist.

    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 4/4 · how much data exists 2/4.

What this job pays, and how many people do it

Median pay
$61,960a 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
14,930in 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. Most of what is shifting here is reading one thing and writing another: treatment plan in, a record out. The rows above are exactly that shape: preparing and submitting reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression and developing treatment plan to meet needs of patient. What it cannot do is be answerable: patient needs a named person the rules will accept, and software cannot be that person. 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: instructing patient in activities and techniques 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, 26% in rows that change shape rather than disappear, and 74% in rows it is nowhere near. That is the position, measured across 11 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. Preparing and submitting reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression 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 treatment plan, 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 patient 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 developing treatment plan to meet needs of patient. 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, and why I am not sending you down them

I looked at the obvious moves out of this job, and here is what I found.

I checked the 12 nearest US occupations to recreational therapists (nearest by the work that AI is not taking, not by job title), and none of them survived. The closest was therapists, all other: only about 5% of its durable work is work you already do. And on the numbers you do not need one. This job scores 22/100 here, with only 0% of the task list in the top band, and “instruct patient in activities and techniques” is not work that hands over cleanly. None of them beats deepening what you already have.

How that was checked: this job was compared against all 830 US occupations in this release on their official task statements, and the 12 nearest were examined one by one. A move that turns on an industry, an employer or a qualification rather than on the work itself will not show up in a check like that. And this release carries no licence register, so anything you are weighing needs that looked up separately.

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.

  • Therapists, All Other

    Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already confer with members of treatment team to plan and evaluate therapy programs, and their equivalent is to confer with other professionals on client's treatment team to develop, coordinate, or integrate…. 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 →

  • Occupational Therapy Assistants

    Why it looked obvious: It came up as a near neighbour on the work AI is not taking: you already counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities, and their equivalent is to monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement. 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 develop discharge plans for patients, and their equivalent is to discharge patient from physical therapy when goals or projected outcomes have been attained…. Across both published task lists that is about 2% of the durable work in that job.

    Why I am not recommending it: Almost none of it is work you already do: about 2% of the durable side of that job. That is a different job, not a next step.

    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 11 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 instructing patient in activities and techniques 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.

You are reading the United States figures

The United Kingdom splits this work across more than one official group, of which Occupational therapists 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:

In UK official statistics this job is counted as Occupational therapists, Podiatrists and Therapy professionals n.e.c.. 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.

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.

Noted, and thank you. We’ll email you if a Space for recreational therapists launches. Nothing else.

That did not look like an email address, so nothing was saved. Have another go below.

We could not save that. The fault is ours, not yours, and your address was not stored. Please try again later.

No Space for recreational therapists 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 recreational therapists existed, with researched problems, courses and people in the same boat, would you want in?

We use your email address for one thing: to tell you if a Space for recreational therapists launches. We never sell it, never use it for unrelated marketing, and every email has a one-click unsubscribe. Our privacy policy has the full version.

This unlocks nothing. Every figure, every row and every step on this page is already yours, whether you fill this in or not.

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 Recreational Therapists?
Not as a job, but it is already doing parts of the work. Across the 11 official task statements scored for Recreational Therapists (United States, SOC 29-1125), 0% of the importance-weighted core work is made of tasks today's AI could already do most of. The overall exposure score is 22 out of 100 (range 16–29, band: low). 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 “Recreational Therapists” can AI already do?
The highest-scoring tasks in release 2026-q4.1 are: “Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression” (56/100, partial); “Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy” (48/100, partial); “Develop discharge plans for patients” (48/100, partial). 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 “Recreational Therapists” stay human?
About 74% 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: “Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being” (2/100, minimal); “Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psych…” (3/100, minimal); “Counsel and encourage patients to develop leisure activities” (7/100, 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 “Recreational Therapists” do about AI?
Start from the ledger rather than the headline: 0% of this job's weighted core work is exposed, and roughly 74% 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 Recreational Therapists 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 11 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.
  • 1 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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Using these figures?

Cite this

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}
}

Data as of release 2026-q4.1, published . 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.