Will AI replace Occupational Therapy Assistants?

What this score means

Occupational Therapy Assistants 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 23 out of 100 it scores 3 points below the Healthcare average of 26. Across the 4 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 20 to 27, 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 Occupational Therapy Assistants, most central first, showing 12 of 22.

• 01Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home programs, basic living skills, or the care and use of adaptive equipment.
• 02Maintain and promote a positive attitude toward clients and their treatment programs.
• 03Report to supervisors, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior.
• 04Implement, or assist occupational therapists with implementing, treatment plans designed to help clients function independently.
• 05Monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement.
• 06Observe and record patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior and maintain this information in client records.
• 07Select therapy activities to fit patients' needs and capabilities.
• 08Attend continuing education classes.
• 09Aid patients in dressing and grooming themselves.
• 10Evaluate the daily living skills or capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.
• 11Communicate and collaborate with other healthcare professionals involved with the care of a patient.
• 12Work under the direction of occupational therapists to plan, implement, or administer educational, vocational, or recreational programs that restore or enhance performance in individuals with functional impairments.

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 4 research sources that scored Occupational Therapy Assistants 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
• 02Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure · 2025
• 03GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
• 04AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

Also covers

Acute Care Occupational Therapy Assistant (Acute Care OT Assistant) · Certified Occupational Assistant · Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA) · Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA) · Certified Travel OTA (Certified Travel Occupational Therapist Assistant) · Home Health COTA (Home Health Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant) · Independent Living Specialist · Licensed Occupational Therapist Assistant (LOTA) and related titles

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