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Healthcare · Updated Aug 2026

Acupuncturists

Diagnose, treat, and prevent disorders by stimulating specific acupuncture points within the body using acupuncture needles. May also use cups, nutritional supplements, therapeutic massage, acupressure, and other alternative health therapies.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
AI Exposure
67/100
High

How much of this occupation’s work can be materially affected by current AI systems.

Replacement Risk
53/100
Moderate

How likely exposure is to translate into reduced human demand.

Includes provisional estimates for AI adoption pressure and labour-market resilience. How this is measured

Evidence quality
Confidence82/100
Task coverage86%

Confidence reflects task coverage, mapping and capability-evidence quality, and how much of the score rests on provisional inputs.

Task-level evidence

What is driving the score?

Occupation scores are built from the task mix—not a single prediction about a job title.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
TaskImportanceAI impactExposure
Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures.High
75
Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes.High
71
Treat patients using tools, such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements.High
65
Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.High
70
Evaluate treatment outcomes and recommend new or altered treatments as necessary to further promote, restore, or maintain health.High
69
Collect medical histories and general health and lifestyle information from patients.High
66
Identify correct anatomical and proportional point locations based on patients' anatomy and positions, contraindications, and precautions related to treatments, such as intradermal needles, moxibustion, electricity, guasha, or bleeding.High
57
Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions.High
72
Assess patients' general physical appearance to make diagnoses.High
69
Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals.High
74
Educate patients on topics, such as meditation, ergonomics, stretching, exercise, nutrition, the healing process, breathing, or relaxation techniques.High
59
Treat medical conditions, using techniques such as acupressure, shiatsu, or tuina.Medium
75
Apply heat or cold therapy to patients using materials, such as heat pads, hydrocollator packs, warm compresses, cold compresses, heat lamps, or vapor coolants.Medium
58
Formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties, such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities.Medium
71
Dispense herbal formulas and inform patients of dosages and frequencies, treatment duration, possible side effects, and drug interactions.Medium
59
Apply moxibustion directly or indirectly to patients using Chinese, non-scarring, stick, or pole moxa.Medium
60
Most exposed

Where AI can do more

Routine, digitized, and highly repeatable tasks face the greatest pressure.

  1. Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures.75
  2. Treat medical conditions, using techniques such as acupressure, shiatsu, or tuina.75
  3. Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals.74
  4. Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions.72
Hardest to automate

Where people still matter

These tasks score lowest on automation feasibility—physical presence, judgement, accountability and real-world variability all resist end-to-end automation.

  1. Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes.01
  2. Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.02
  3. Evaluate treatment outcomes and recommend new or altered treatments as necessary to further promote, restore, or maintain health.03
  4. Formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties, such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities.04
  5. Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures.05
Where else this work leads

Related occupations

Occupations O*NET links to this one. Relatedness reflects shared work, not a claim that these roles are safer.

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Beyond AI capability

Adoption and labour-market outlook

Structural factors are kept separate from raw capability so you can see what actually resists automation. Adoption pressure and labour-market resilience are still provisional models—25% of this occupation’s replacement-risk weight rests on them.

Human dependency59
Physical dependency46
Adoption pressure38
Labour-market resilience67
Methodology & sources

O*NET 30.3 occupational data interpreted through the JobsVsAI capability, automation and structural-constraint models.

Confidence82/100
CalculatedAug 21, 2026
Read methodology →