Occupation baseline · Research consensus
Will AI replace Registered Nurses?
Baseline AI displacement risk for Registered Nurses, aggregated from 12 research sources.
What this score means
Registered Nurses leans toward the safer end for Healthcare. Parts of the role touch tasks AI is getting good at, but the core still depends on hands on work or judgment that resists automation. At 27 out of 100 it scores 5 points above the Healthcare average of 22. Across the 12 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 5 to 41, 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 Registered Nurses, most central first, showing 12 of 27.
- 01Record patients' medical information and vital signs.
- 02Administer medications to patients and monitor patients for reactions or side effects.
- 03Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.
- 04Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions.
- 05Provide health care, first aid, immunizations, or assistance in convalescence or rehabilitation in locations such as schools, hospitals, or industry.
- 06Consult and coordinate with healthcare team members to assess, plan, implement, or evaluate patient care plans.
- 07Direct or supervise less-skilled nursing or healthcare personnel or supervise a particular unit.
- 08Monitor all aspects of patient care, including diet and physical activity.
- 09Instruct individuals, families, or other groups on topics such as health education, disease prevention, or childbirth and develop health improvement programs.
- 10Modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients' responses and conditions.
- 11Conduct specified laboratory tests.
- 12Observe nurses and visit patients to ensure proper nursing care.
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 12 research sources that scored Registered Nurses for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.
- 01Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026Anthropic
- 02Bridging Skill Gaps for the Future: New Jobs Creation in the AI Age · 2026International Monetary Fund, Staff Discussion Note 2026/001
- 03Crashing Waves vs. Rising Tides: Preliminary Findings on AI Automation from Thousands of Worker Evaluations of Labor Market Tasks · 2026Mertens, Thompson et al., MIT FutureTech (2026)
- 04Global Automation Atlas: Task Substitution Exposure by Occupation · 2026Garg, Crosta, Baier (2026), arXiv:2605.17086
- 05The AI Jobs Transition Framework: Mapping AI's Near-Term Impact on Jobs · 2026OpenAI Economic Research (2026)
- 06The Fearless Future: 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer — UAE Analysis · 2026PwC, Global AI Jobs Barometer (2026)
- 07Navigating the Workforce Impacts of AI · 2025Deloitte, for the Energy Workforce & Technology Council (2025)
- 08Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations · 2025Tomlinson, Jaffe et al., Microsoft Research (2025)
- 09A new future of work: The race to deploy AI and raise skills in Europe and beyond · 2024McKinsey Global Institute (2024)
- 10GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin, Rock (Science, 2024)
- 11AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023Felten, Raj, Seamans (2023)
- 12Generative AI and the Future of Work in America · 2023McKinsey Global Institute (2023)
Common questions
- How likely is AI to replace Registered Nurses?
- Published research puts Registered Nurses at 27 out of 100 for AI displacement risk, in the lower risk band. The number is a weighted consensus of 12 research sources and describes the typical version of the role, not any individual.
- Do researchers agree on the risk for Registered Nurses?
- Only partly. Individual estimates for Registered Nurses run from 5 to 41 out of 100 across the 12 sources behind this score, so the single number smooths over real disagreement. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in it.
- Which healthcare roles face similar AI exposure?
- The closest published healthcare roles to Registered Nurses by score are Acute Care Nurses (27/100), Audiologists (27/100), and Clinical Nurse Specialists (27/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.
Also covers
Cardiac Care Unit Nurse (CCU Nurse) · Cardiac Nurse Specialist · Central Supply Nurse · Certified Operating Room Nurse (CNOR) · Charge Nurse · Circulating Nurse · Community Health Nurse · Consultant Nurse 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
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More healthcare occupations
- Histology Technicians28/100
- Acute Care Nurses27/100
- Audiologists27/100
- Clinical Nurse Specialists27/100
- Medical Assistants27/100
- Personal Care Aides27/100
- Speech-Language Pathologists27/100
- Athletic Trainers26/100
Informational guidance based on published research, not professional career or financial advice. Scores update as new research is ingested.