Will clinical research coordinators be replaced by AI?
Updated
Clinical research coordinators score 50 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 69%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 19% outright, and 12% stays with people.
- 19% AI can do it
- 69% AI helps
- 12% Needs a person
High exposure
Higher than 75% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 33 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 6 of them today, speeds up 23 and leaves 4 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Prepare study-related documentation, such as protocol worksheets, procedural manuals, adverse event reports, institutional review board documents, or progress reports. Drafting protocols, manuals and progress reports is text work. | 75% AI can do it |
| Maintain required records of study activity including case report forms, drug dispensation records, or regulatory forms. Structured record keeping and form entry suit automation well. | 75% AI can do it |
| Develop advertising and other informational materials to be used in subject recruitment. Recruitment flyers and web copy are classic AI drafting work. | 75% AI can do it |
| Schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols. Scheduling visits is mostly calendar and messaging work. | 70% AI can do it |
| Track enrollment status of subjects and document dropout information such as dropout causes and subject contact efforts. Enrollment tracking and dropout logs are routine database work. | 70% AI can do it |
| Register protocol patients with appropriate statistical centers as required. Registry data entry is routine and well suited to AI. | 70% AI can do it |
| Collaborate with investigators to prepare presentations or reports of clinical study procedures, results, and conclusions. AI drafts report sections; investigators take responsibility for the conclusions. | 55% AI helps |
| Code, evaluate, or interpret collected study data. AI can code and summarize data; analysis needs expert review. | 55% AI helps |
| Review scientific literature, participate in continuing education activities, or attend conferences and seminars to maintain current knowledge of clinical studies affairs and issues. AI speeds literature review; conferences and training stay in person. | 55% AI helps |
| Participate in preparation and management of research budgets and monetary disbursements. AI can draft budgets and track spend; approvals stay human. | 55% AI helps |
Show the other 23 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Assess eligibility of potential subjects through methods such as screening interviews, reviews of medical records, or discussions with physicians and nurses. Chart review suits AI; live screening interviews stay human. | 50% AI helps |
| Monitor study activities to ensure compliance with protocols and with all relevant local, federal, and state regulatory and institutional polices. AI can check records against protocol rules; people decide compliance. | 50% AI helps |
| Maintain contact with sponsors to schedule and coordinate site visits or to answer questions about issues such as incomplete data. AI can draft sponsor emails and answers; staff still coordinate. | 50% AI helps |
| Order drugs or devices necessary for study completion. Ordering is software workflow; approvals and vendor choices stay human. | 50% AI helps |
| Record adverse event and side effect data and confer with investigators regarding the reporting of events to oversight agencies. AI can structure event logs; reporting calls need investigator judgment. | 45% AI helps |
| Review proposed study protocols to evaluate factors such as sample collection processes, data management plans, or potential subject risks. AI can review protocol text for risks; experts must approve. | 45% AI helps |
| Prepare for or participate in quality assurance audits conducted by study sponsors, federal agencies, or specially designated review groups. AI can prep audit binders and checklists; people face auditors. | 45% AI helps |
| Participate in the development of study protocols including guidelines for administration or data collection procedures. AI can draft protocol sections; design choices need expert judgment. | 45% AI helps |
| Communicate with laboratories or investigators regarding laboratory findings. AI can summarize lab results; investigators decide clinical follow up. | 45% AI helps |
| Arrange for research study sites and determine staff or equipment availability. Software can track staff and equipment; site choices need people. | 45% AI helps |
| Identify protocol problems, inform investigators of problems, or assist in problem resolution efforts, such as protocol revisions. AI can flag protocol gaps; investigators decide the fixes. | 40% AI helps |
| Interpret protocols and advise treating physicians on appropriate dosage modifications or treatment calculations based on patient characteristics. AI can check dose math; physicians must take responsibility for treatment decisions. | 40% AI helps |
| Contact industry representatives to ensure equipment and software specifications necessary for successful study completion. Spec checks are lookup work; vendor calls need people. | 40% AI helps |
| Oversee subject enrollment to ensure that informed consent is properly obtained and documented. Consent happens in person; AI only checks documentation. | 35% AI helps |
| Instruct research staff in scientific and procedural aspects of studies including standards of care, informed consent procedures, or documentation procedures. Training staff is mostly people work; AI can make materials. | 35% AI helps |
| Contact outside health care providers and communicate with subjects to obtain follow-up information. Records requests automate; live follow-up calls stay human. | 35% AI helps |
| Inform patients or caregivers about study aspects and outcomes to be expected. Patient conversations need people; AI can draft handouts. | 30% AI helps |
| Solicit industry-sponsored trials through contacts and professional organizations. Relationship building with sponsors is human; AI can draft outreach. | 30% AI helps |
| Confer with health care professionals to determine the best recruitment practices for studies. Talks with clinicians are human; AI speeds up practice research. | 25% AI helps |
| Dispense medical devices or drugs, and calculate dosages and provide instructions as necessary. Dispensing is physical; AI can check dose math and instructions. | 18% Needs a person |
| Direct the requisition, collection, labeling, storage, or shipment of specimens. Physical specimen handling and shipping need people on site. | 15% Needs a person |
| Perform specific protocol procedures such as interviewing subjects, taking vital signs, and performing electrocardiograms. Hands-on exams, vitals and ECGs need a person present. | 10% Needs a person |
| Organize space for study equipment and supplies. Setting up rooms and shelves is physical work. | 5% Needs a person |
How clinical research coordinators compare
All occupations (923)
Management (56)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $167,220 a year, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +8.2% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Hold the ACRP CCRC or SOCRA CCRP credential
- Run enrollment and dropout tracking in clinical trial management software
- Check AI-drafted IRB documents against ICH E6 GCP
- Analyze enrollment and endpoint data in IBM SPSS Statistics or SAS
- Perform subject interviews, vital signs, and ECGs in person
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about clinical research coordinators and AI
Will AI replace clinical research coordinators?
Partly. About 5 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly study documentation and record keeping such as progress reports and case report forms. What stays with people is subject contact, hands-on procedures, and specimen handling.
Which tasks is AI taking over for clinical research coordinators?
Drafting recruitment flyers and web copy is the most exposed task, since it is classic AI drafting work. Enrollment tracking and registry entry follow closely, because dropout logs and statistical center forms are routine database work that AI can fill in and check.
Which tasks stay human for clinical research coordinators?
Performing protocol procedures such as subject interviews, vital signs, and ECGs stays human, with an exposure score of 10, because a person has to be in the room. Specimen collection, labeling, and shipping, at 15, needs people on site, and dispensing drugs or devices, at 18, is physical work.
How can clinical research coordinators stay valuable?
Take charge of the hands-on work, such as subject interviews, vital signs, and specimen handling. Check AI-drafted adverse event reports and IRB documents against the protocol before filing. Use SAS or IBM SPSS Statistics to test dropout patterns in enrollment data.
Related jobs
Next steps for clinical research coordinators
Check which roles in your team AI can take on
We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first.
Related topics
- Jobs AI can't replaceCement masons score lowest, at 8.
- Jobs most at risk from AIProofreaders score highest, at 76.
- High-paying jobs with low AI exposureRadiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.
- Entry-level jobs with low AI exposureCement masons need little prior training and score 8.
- Jobs AI speeds up the mostFor natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.
- AI and jobs in Malta15 iGaming roles graded task by task.
- Skills that keep work humanThe skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.
- Jobs A to ZEvery job we publish, by first letter.
- AI exposure by industryAverage scores for 22 occupation groups.
- Write a CV screening software can readHow applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.
- AI for businessesThe tasks to automate first in each team and industry.
- How we score AI exposureThe grading, the weights and every source.