Will midwives be replaced by AI?
Updated
Midwives score 37 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 48%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 15% outright, and 37% stays with people.
- 15% AI can do it
- 48% AI helps
- 37% Needs a person
Moderate exposure
Lower than 50% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 36 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 6 of them today, speeds up 17 and leaves 13 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Complete birth certificates. Structured form filling; signing and legal sign-off stay with midwife. | 75% AI can do it |
| Maintain documentation of all patients' contacts, reviewing and updating records as necessary. Ambient AI scribes can draft notes; clinician reviews them. | 70% AI can do it |
| Provide information about the physical and emotional processes involved in the pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum periods. AI produces clear, accurate educational material readily. | 70% AI can do it |
| Provide patients with contraceptive and family planning information. Standard contraception information is well documented and easy for AI. | 70% AI can do it |
| Compile and evaluate clinical practice statistics. Statistics compilation and evaluation is mostly data processing. | 70% AI can do it |
| Provide information about community health and social resources. AI can compile and update local resource information readily. | 65% AI can do it |
| Counsel women regarding the nutritional requirements of pregnancy. AI can draft tailored nutrition guidance; counseling stays interactive. | 60% AI helps |
| Incorporate research findings into practice as appropriate. AI can summarize research; practice change needs clinical judgment. | 60% AI helps |
| Provide, or refer patients to other providers for, education or counseling on topics such as genetic testing, newborn care, contraception, or breastfeeding. AI can draft education content; referrals and counseling need people. | 60% AI helps |
| Evaluate patients' laboratory and medical records, requesting assistance from other practitioners when necessary. AI summarizes records well; clinician requests specialist input. | 55% AI helps |
Show the other 26 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Estimate patients' due dates and re-evaluate as necessary based on examination results. AI can compute due dates; clinician reconciles with exam findings. | 55% AI helps |
| Inform patients of how to prepare and supply birth sites. AI can draft birth-site prep guidance; patients need personal explanation. | 55% AI helps |
| Obtain complete health and medical histories from patients including medical, surgical, reproductive, or mental health histories. AI can pre-fill intake forms; interview remains in person. | 50% AI helps |
| Develop, implement, or evaluate individualized plans for midwifery care. AI can draft care plans; midwife individualizes and is responsible for them. | 50% AI helps |
| Recommend the use of vitamin and mineral supplements to enhance the health of patients and children. AI can give general supplement guidance; dosing needs clinician review. | 50% AI helps |
| Refer patients to specialists for procedures such as ultrasounds or biophysical profiles. AI can draft referral letters; clinician decides which specialist. | 45% AI helps |
| Identify, monitor, or treat pregnancy-related problems such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, or retarded fetal growth. Decision support helps; clinician manages hypertension and preterm risk. | 40% AI helps |
| Collaborate in research studies. AI speeds writing and analysis; study design needs researcher judgment. | 40% AI helps |
| Identify tubal and ectopic pregnancies and refer patients for treatments. AI aids symptom triage and referral; clinician confirms diagnosis. | 35% AI helps |
| Conduct ongoing prenatal health assessments, tracking changes in physical and emotional health. AI can track questionnaires; in-person assessment remains essential. | 35% AI helps |
| Establish and follow emergency or contingency plans for mothers and newborns. AI can draft plans; clinician tailors and executes them. | 35% AI helps |
| Assess the status of post-date pregnancies to determine treatments and interventions. Interpreting NSTs and ultrasound needs clinician judgment. | 30% AI helps |
| Perform post-partum health assessments of mothers and babies at regular intervals. Physical postpartum exams stay hands-on; checklists can be AI-assisted. | 25% AI helps |
| Monitor maternal condition during labor by checking vital signs, monitoring uterine contractions, or performing physical examinations. Bedside exams and contraction monitoring need physical presence. | 15% Needs a person |
| Assess birthing environments to ensure cleanliness, safety, and the availability of appropriate supplies. Physical site inspection needs a person; checklists can be AI-aided. | 15% Needs a person |
| Treat patients' symptoms with alternative health care methods such as herbs or hydrotherapy. Herbal and hydrotherapy treatments need hands-on care and safety checks. | 15% Needs a person |
| Monitor fetal growth and well-being through heartbeat detection, body measurement, and palpation. Doppler, palpation and measurement require direct hands-on work. | 12% Needs a person |
| Test patients' hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood glucose levels. Blood draws and point-of-care testing need physical handling. | 10% Needs a person |
| Set up or monitor the administration of oxygen or medications. Setting up oxygen and medications is hands-on clinical work. | 8% Needs a person |
| Collect specimens for use in laboratory tests. Specimen collection is a hands-on physical task. | 8% Needs a person |
| Provide necessary medical care for infants at birth, including emergency care such as resuscitation. Newborn resuscitation is urgent hands-on emergency care. | 5% Needs a person |
| Assist maternal patients to find physical positions that will facilitate childbirth. Positioning a laboring woman is physical, hands-on work. | 5% Needs a person |
| Provide comfort and relaxation measures for mothers in labor through interventions such as massage, breathing techniques, hydrotherapy, or music. Massage, breathing and hydrotherapy need in-person physical support. | 5% Needs a person |
| Respond to breech birth presentations by applying methods such as exercises or external version. Breech external version is a manual, hands-on procedure. | 5% Needs a person |
| Perform annual gynecologic exams, including pap smears and breast exams. Pelvic exams, pap smears and breast exams require hands-on work. | 3% Needs a person |
| Suture perineal lacerations. Suturing is a hands-on surgical skill. | 2% Needs a person |
How midwives compare
All occupations (923)
Healthcare practitioners and technical (89)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $65,790 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 35,010 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- +5.1% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Suture perineal lacerations and perform newborn resuscitation
- Assist labor positioning, breech external version and comfort measures
- Review and sign off AI-drafted notes in Epic Systems
- Complete birth certificate sign-off and legal documentation in EMR
- Run clinical practice statistics checks in Microsoft Excel
- Counsel patients on individual risk in person
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about midwives and AI
Will AI replace midwives?
Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly completing birth certificates and maintaining patient documentation. Hands-on care at birth, newborn resuscitation and the clinical judgment behind it stay with midwives, because those tasks need a person in the room.
Which midwife tasks is AI taking over?
Structured paperwork and education are the most exposed, with exposure scores of 75 for birth certificates and 70 for patient record maintenance. AI can fill standard forms and draft visit notes from ambient recordings, and midwives review and sign them. It also writes clear material on pregnancy, labor and contraception.
Which midwife tasks is AI taking over?
Birth certificate completion, with an exposure score of 75, is the most exposed task. AI fills structured forms from the patient record, and midwives check and sign each one. Patient record upkeep, scored 70, follows, with ambient AI scribes drafting visit notes for review.
Which midwife tasks stay human?
Suturing perineal lacerations, with an exposure score of 2, stays with midwives. So does newborn resuscitation, scored 5, since both need hands on a patient in the room. Breech external version and labor positioning, also scored 5, depend on manual skill at the bedside.
Related jobs
Next steps for midwives
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.