AI exposure: Anesthesiologists
Administer anesthetics and analgesics for pain management prior to, during, or after surgery.
Reading this score
computedAt 14.3% of weighted task load, Anesthesiologists sits at the 22th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 61.3% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 2.60 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Schedule and maintain use of surgical suite, at 73.3%. The least is Place invasive intravascular monitors into patients, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.5% across the group's 89 roles, with 64 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 20 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 7 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take a change in who is permitted to sign the work, which is a question for regulators rather than for engineers. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.64 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.42 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 2.05 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.45 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.90 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.60 | 0-3 |
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule and maintain use of surgical suite, including operating, wash-up, waiting rooms, or anesthetic and sterilizing equipment. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.84 | exposed |
| Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.90 | exposed |
| Instruct individuals and groups on ways to preserve health and prevent disease. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.90 | exposed |
| Order laboratory tests, x-rays, and other diagnostic procedures. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.58 | assisted |
| Diagnose illnesses, using examinations, tests, and reports. | 20.0% | 55.0% | 25.0% | 4.41 | assisted |
| Conduct medical research to aid in controlling and curing disease, to investigate new medications, and to develop and test new medical techniques. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.50 | assisted |
| Manage anesthesiological services, coordinating them with other medical activities and formulating plans and procedures. | 15.0% | 35.0% | 50.0% | 4.60 | assisted |
| Teach anesthesiology principles to residents. | 15.0% | 22.5% | 62.5% | 4.34 | untouched |
| Decide when patients have recovered or stabilized enough to be sent to another room or ward or to be sent home following outpatient surgery. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.86 | assisted |
| Coordinate administration of anesthetics with surgeons during operation. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.85 | assisted |
| Confer with other medical professionals to determine type and method of anesthetic or sedation to render patient insensible to pain. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.60 | assisted |
| Provide medical care and consultation in many settings, prescribing medication and treatment and referring patients for surgery. | 10.4% | 23.0% | 66.7% | 4.01 | untouched |
| Coordinate and direct work of nurses, medical technicians, and other health care providers. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.79 | untouched |
| Inform students and staff of types and methods of anesthesia administration, signs of complications, and emergency methods to counteract reactions. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.50 | untouched |
| Examine patient, obtain medical history, and use diagnostic tests to determine risk during surgical, obstetrical, and other medical procedures. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 5.00 | untouched |
| Monitor patient before, during, and after anesthesia and counteract adverse reactions or complications. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.89 | untouched |
| Administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.94 | untouched |
| Position patient on operating table to maximize patient comfort and surgical accessibility. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.80 | untouched |
| Provide and maintain life support and airway management and help prepare patients for emergency surgery. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.70 | untouched |
| Place invasive intravascular monitors into patients. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.59 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.