Will AI replace professors?
Updated
Health sciences professors score 50 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 55%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 13% outright, and 32% stays with people.
- 13% AI can do it
- 55% AI helps
- 32% Needs a person
High exposure
Higher than 75% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 22 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 12 and leaves 7 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records. Routine record keeping that LMS and AI tools handle well. | 80% AI can do it |
| Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments. AI compiles reading lists; instructor verifies every citation. | 68% AI can do it |
| Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts. AI drafts syllabi and handouts well; instructor reviews content. | 65% AI can do it |
| Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers. AI drafts feedback and scores essays; instructor confirms grades. | 62% AI helps |
| Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others. AI drafts question banks and grades objective items; instructor validates. | 60% AI helps |
| Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction. AI can analyze outcomes and propose revised course designs. | 50% AI helps |
| Write grant proposals to procure external research funding. AI drafts proposal sections; strategy and PI judgement stay human. | 50% AI helps |
| Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media. AI speeds literature review and drafting; experiments stay human. | 45% AI helps |
| Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as public health, stress management, and work site health promotion. AI drafts lecture content; live delivery stays with the instructor. | 40% AI helps |
| Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences. Summarizes papers, but conferences and colleague talks stay human. | 35% AI helps |
Show the other 12 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks and laboratory equipment. AI researches options and drafts orders; buying stays manual. | 35% AI helps |
| Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head. Email, reports, and budgets are AI assisted; leadership stays human. | 35% AI helps |
| Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities. Outreach and placement need interpersonal work; AI helps with materials. | 30% AI helps |
| Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues. Live advising needs judgement; AI helps with curriculum information. | 28% AI helps |
| Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues. Meetings are human; AI helps draft policy text and minutes. | 25% AI helps |
| Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work. Mentoring and supervising people in person is mostly human work. | 18% Needs a person |
| Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues. Meetings and working relationships with colleagues remain human. | 18% Needs a person |
| Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions. Live facilitation with students is human; AI only preps prompts. | 15% Needs a person |
| Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students. Live student meetings are human; AI adds little here. | 12% Needs a person |
| Act as advisers to student organizations. Advising student clubs means in person events and relationships. | 12% Needs a person |
| Supervise laboratory sessions. Requires physical presence and practical safety oversight in labs. | 10% Needs a person |
| Participate in campus and community events. Attending campus and community events needs physical presence. | 5% Needs a person |
How health sciences professors compare
All occupations (923)
Educational instruction and library (62)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $107,310 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 221,270 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +17.9% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Verify AI-compiled bibliographies against primary sources
- Review AI-drafted syllabi and handouts for clinical accuracy
- Confirm grades and feedback in the LMS before release
- Analyze course outcomes in IBM SPSS Statistics or SAS
- Supervise laboratory sessions with practical safety oversight
- Mentor graduate students in person through research and internships
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about health sciences professors and AI
Will professors be replaced by AI?
Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly maintaining records and compiling bibliographies. Routine record keeping and reading lists are the tasks AI handles best. Live teaching, lab supervision, and mentoring stay with people because they need a person in the room.
Which tasks is AI taking over for health sciences professors?
Maintaining attendance records, grades, and other required records scores 80 on exposure, the highest in this job, because the LMS and AI tools handle routine entries well. Compiling bibliographies scores 68 and drafting syllabi and handouts scores 65, since AI produces the first draft and the professor reviews it.
Which tasks stay human for health sciences professors?
Supervising laboratory sessions scores 10 on exposure because it needs physical presence and practical safety oversight. Leading classroom discussions scores 15, and supervising teaching, internship, and research work scores 18, because mentoring people in person is mostly human work.
How do health sciences professors stay valuable as AI spreads?
Check every AI-compiled citation against the source before it reaches a reading list. Review grades and AI-drafted feedback in your LMS before release. Use SAS or IBM SPSS Statistics to analyze course outcomes, then lead the curriculum revisions yourself.
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