Occupation baseline · Research consensus

Will AI replace Massage Therapists?

Lower risk

Baseline AI displacement risk for Massage Therapists, aggregated from 3 research sources.

What this score means

Massage Therapists is among the least exposed roles in Healthcare. Most of what the job involves still sits outside what current AI can do, even as the tools around it keep changing. At 18 out of 100 it scores 8 points below the Healthcare average of 26. Across the 3 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 14 to 20, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Massage Therapists, most central first, showing 12 of 14.

01Confer with clients about their medical histories and problems with stress or pain to determine how massage will be most helpful.
02Massage and knead muscles and soft tissues of the body to provide treatment for medical conditions, injuries, or wellness maintenance.
03Maintain massage areas by restocking supplies or sanitizing equipment.
04Apply finger and hand pressure to specific points of the body.
05Develop and propose client treatment plans that specify which types of massage are to be used.
06Maintain treatment records.
07Assess clients' soft tissue condition, joint quality and function, muscle strength, and range of motion.
08Provide clients with guidance and information about techniques for postural improvement and stretching, strengthening, relaxation, and rehabilitative exercises.
09Treat clients in professional settings or travel to clients' offices and homes.
10Refer clients to other types of therapists when necessary.
11Prepare and blend oils and apply the blends to clients' skin.
12Consult with other health care professionals, such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, physicians, and psychologists, to develop treatment plans for clients.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 3 research sources that scored Massage Therapists for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026
02GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
03AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

Also covers

Bodywork Therapist · Certified Massage Therapist (CMT) · Clinical Massage Therapist · Deep Tissue Massage Therapist · Integrated Deep Tissue Massage Therapist · Licensed Massage Practitioner (LMP) · Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) · Massage Operator and related titles

Estimated displacement window

The dated estimate for this role is included in the full personalised report.

Your number is not the baseline

Seniority, sector, and how much of your day is routine all shift the score. Answer a few questions and get your personal risk score free, no sign-up.

Get my personal score

Free · No credit card · No sign-up

More healthcare occupations

All occupations

Informational guidance based on published research, not professional career or financial advice. Scores update as new research is ingested.