---
title: "Will AI Replace Paramedics? (2026)"
description: "BLS rates paramedics' exposure to AI as low. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (+5.7% projected)."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-paramedics"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Paramedics? (2026)

**Short answer:** Very unlikely. BLS rates paramedics among the occupations least exposed to AI, and most of the work is the kind current AI tools cannot do.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places paramedics in its low AI exposure category, among the occupations least exposed to current AI. BLS projects employment to change by +5.7% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 4,300 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | Low | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 67/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | +5.7% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 4,300 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $60,600 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low (this job) | 203 |
| Moderate | 194 |
| High | 190 |
| Very high | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Assisting and caring for others: 4.8/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Performing for or working directly with the public: 4.5/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Face-to-face discussions: 4.9/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Performing general physical activities: 4.1/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## What AI reaches first

- Documenting/recording information: 4.3/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Processing information: 3.7/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Getting information: 4.2/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Email: 4.3/5 (O\*NET work context)

## O\*NET tasks

- Perform emergency cardiac care, such as cardioversion and manual defibrillation.
- Perform emergency invasive intervention before delivering patient to an acute care facility.
- Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel.
- Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures.
- Comfort and reassure patients.
- Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings.

## FAQ

**Will AI replace paramedics?**

Very unlikely. BLS rates paramedics among the occupations least exposed to AI, and most of the work is the kind current AI tools cannot do. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to change by +5.7% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 4,300 openings a year.

**How exposed are paramedics to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Paramedics are in the low category, alongside 202 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a paramedic's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are documenting/recording information, processing information and getting information. The parts that hold up best are assisting and caring for others, performing for or working directly with the public and face-to-face discussions. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a paramedic a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, paramedics score 67 out of 100, higher than 95% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $60,600 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/paramedic.

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology