Will embalmers be replaced by AI?
Updated
Embalmers score 14 of 100 for AI exposure. 78% of their task time still needs a person. AI can do 4% today and speed up another 18%.
- 4% AI can do it
- 18% AI helps
- 78% Needs a person
Low exposure
Lower than 91% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 26 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 1 of them today, speeds up 5 and leaves 20 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Maintain records, such as itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with body and names of persons embalmed. Itemized records and name logs are routine digital documentation. | 70% AI can do it |
| Arrange for transporting the deceased to another state for interment. Interstate transport paperwork and logistics can be AI-drafted and tracked. | 55% AI helps |
| Conduct interviews to arrange for the preparation of obituary notices, to assist with the selection of caskets or urns, and to determine the location and time of burials or cremations. Obituary drafting is AI-able; grieving family interviews stay human. | 45% AI helps |
| Conform to laws of health and sanitation and ensure that legal requirements concerning embalming are met. Compliance checklists can be AI-assisted, but legal accountability stays with embalmer. | 40% AI helps |
| Perform the duties of funeral directors, including coordinating funeral activities. Scheduling and paperwork can be AI-assisted; family coordination stays human. | 40% AI helps |
| Assist coroners at death scenes or at autopsies, file police reports, and testify at inquests or in court, if employed by a coroner. Scene and autopsy work is physical; report filing partly automatable. | 15% AI helps |
| Perform special procedures necessary for remains that are to be transported to other states or overseas, or where death was caused by infectious disease. Special preparation procedures are hands-on; AI only aids regulation lookup. | 10% Needs a person |
| Supervise funeral attendants and other funeral home staff. Supervising staff is in-person people management. | 10% Needs a person |
| Direct casket and floral display placement and arrange guest seating. Physical arrangement of caskets, flowers and seating in person. | 10% Needs a person |
| Assist with placing caskets in hearses and organize cemetery processions. Physical casket handling and procession organizing at cemetery. | 8% Needs a person |
Show the other 16 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Apply cosmetics to impart lifelike appearance to the deceased. Hands-on cosmetic application on a body needs physical skill. | 5% Needs a person |
| Clean and disinfect areas in which bodies are prepared and embalmed. Physical cleaning and disinfecting of work areas; AI adds little. | 5% Needs a person |
| Remove the deceased from place of death and transport to funeral home. Physical removal and transport of bodies; driving and lifting. | 5% Needs a person |
| Serve as pallbearers, attend visiting rooms, and provide other assistance to the bereaved. Pallbearing and comforting bereaved people is physical and emotional care. | 5% Needs a person |
| Arrange funeral home equipment and perform general maintenance. Physical equipment setup and general building maintenance. | 5% Needs a person |
| Dress bodies and place them in caskets. Physically dressing bodies and lifting them into caskets. | 4% Needs a person |
| Wash and dry bodies, using germicidal soap and towels or hot air dryers. Physically washing and drying bodies with soap and towels. | 4% Needs a person |
| Join lips, using needles and thread or wire. Physically sewing lips closed on a body needs hands-on skill. | 3% Needs a person |
| Close incisions, using needles and sutures. Suturing incisions is hands-on physical work on a body. | 3% Needs a person |
| Reshape or reconstruct disfigured or maimed bodies when necessary, using dermasurgery techniques and materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax. Sculpting and reconstructing disfigured features needs manual artistry. | 3% Needs a person |
| Pack body orifices with cotton saturated with embalming fluid to prevent escape of gases or waste matter. Physically packing body orifices with saturated cotton. | 3% Needs a person |
| Insert convex celluloid or cotton between eyeballs and eyelids to prevent slipping and sinking of eyelids. Physically placing eye caps under eyelids on a body. | 3% Needs a person |
| Incise stomach and abdominal walls and probe internal organs, using trocar, to withdraw blood and waste matter from organs. Invasive incision and organ probing requires hands-on surgical-style work. | 2% Needs a person |
| Make incisions in arms or thighs and drain blood from circulatory system and replace it with embalming fluid, using pump. Hands-on arterial incisions and fluid pumping on a body. | 2% Needs a person |
| Attach trocar to pump-tube, start pump, and repeat probing to force embalming fluid into organs. Manual trocar probing and pump operation on a body. | 2% Needs a person |
| Press diaphragm to evacuate air from lungs. Manual pressing of the diaphragm on a body needs hands-on work. | 2% Needs a person |
How embalmers compare
All occupations (923)
Personal care and service (31)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $58,780 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 3,890 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +0.7% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Keep itemized effects logs in Belmar & Associates Mortware
- Hold a state embalmer license and renew it on schedule
- Sign off interstate transit permits for out-of-state interment
- Run family arrangement conferences for caskets, urns, and burial times
- Write compliance reports for state health and sanitation laws
- Perform arterial embalming and trocar probing manually
Safer roles nearby
A related occupation with a lower score.
Questions about embalmers and AI
Will AI replace embalmers?
Partly. About 1 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly record keeping and interstate transport paperwork. Hands-on preparation of the body and conversations with grieving families stay with embalmers.
Which embalmer tasks is AI taking over?
Record keeping is the most exposed task, with an exposure score of 70. AI can draft itemized lists of clothing and valuables and build name logs from digital intake data. Interstate transport paperwork (exposure 55) and obituary drafting (exposure 45) follow.
Which embalmer tasks stay human?
Incising, trocar probing, pumping embalming fluid, and suturing carry exposure scores of 2 or 3, the lowest in the job. They need hands-on work on a body. Family conversations about caskets and burial times also stay with people, because grief needs a person in the room.
How can embalmers stay valuable as AI spreads?
Learn Belmar & Associates Mortware and Custom Data Systems Sterling Management Software well enough to audit AI-drafted records. Keep your state embalmer license current and check every compliance checklist against the health and sanitation code. Spend the time you save on arterial work and family arrangement conferences.
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