Will AI replace Phlebotomists?

What this score means

Phlebotomists 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 11 to 23, 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 Phlebotomists, most central first, showing 12 of 23.

• 01Dispose of contaminated sharps, in accordance with applicable laws, standards, and policies.
• 02Organize or clean blood-drawing trays, ensuring that all instruments are sterile and all needles, syringes, or related items are of first-time use.
• 03Draw blood from veins by vacuum tube, syringe, or butterfly venipuncture methods.
• 04Match laboratory requisition forms to specimen tubes.
• 05Dispose of blood or other biohazard fluids or tissue, in accordance with applicable laws, standards, or policies.
• 06Conduct standards tests, such as blood alcohol, blood culture, oral glucose tolerance, glucose screening, blood smears, or peak and trough drug levels tests.
• 07Collect specimens at specific time intervals for tests, such as those assessing therapeutic drug levels.
• 08Process blood or other fluid samples for further analysis by other medical professionals.
• 09Provide sample analysis results to physicians to assist diagnosis.
• 10Enter patient, specimen, insurance, or billing information into computer.
• 11Document route of specimens from collection to laboratory analysis and diagnosis.
• 12Draw blood from capillaries by dermal puncture, such as heel or finger stick methods.

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 Phlebotomists 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

Certified Phlebotomist · Certified Phlebotomy Technician · Clinical Phlebotomist · Collections Technician · Lab Liaison Technician · Laboratory Phlebotomist · Long Term Care Phlebotomist · Mobile Examiner and related titles

More healthcare occupations

• Acupuncturists29/100
• Acute Care Nurses30/100
• Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses34/100
• Allergists and Immunologists32/100
• Anesthesiologist Assistants19/100
• Anesthesiologists27/100
• Art Therapists29/100
• Athletic Trainers30/100