# Will psychologists be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Psychologists score 46 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 60%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 12% outright, and 28% stays with people. - **12%** AI can do it - **60%** AI helps - **28%** Needs a person Moderate exposure Higher than 65% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 30 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 3 of them today, speeds up 19 and leaves 8 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Document patient information including session notes, progress notes, recommendations, and treatment plans. AI scribes draft session notes; clinician reviews and signs. | 75% AI can do it | | Write reports on clients and maintain required paperwork. Drafting reports and forms is routine writing AI handles well. | 75% AI can do it | | Consult reference material, such as textbooks, manuals, or journals, to identify symptoms, make diagnoses, or develop approaches to treatment. LLMs can rapidly search and summarize clinical references and guidelines. | 70% AI can do it | | Maintain current knowledge of relevant research. AI can summarize new literature quickly; clinicians still judge relevance. | 55% AI helps | | Provide occupational, educational, or other information to individuals so that they can make educational or vocational plans. AI answers career and program questions well; plans need tailoring. | 55% AI helps | ## How psychologists compare All occupations (923) Life, physical and social science (60) **Psychologists score 46**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 47 for life, physical and social science. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $100,580 a year, May 2025 People employed 75,990 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +11.7% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Review and sign AI-drafted session notes in eClinicalWorks EHR - Hold a state psychologist license and renew continuing education credits - Conduct suicide risk assessments using the C-SSRS scale - Deliver live psychotherapy such as trauma-focused CBT - Score and interpret psychological tests with clinical validation ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Mental health social workers40 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/mental-health-social-workers/) - [Marriage and family therapists38 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/marriage-and-family-therapists/) - [Mental health counselors35 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/mental-health-counselors/) - [Psychiatrists40 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/psychiatrists/) - [Neuropsychologists35 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/neuropsychologists/) ## Questions about psychologists and AI Will AI replace psychologists? Partly. About 4 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly documenting session notes and treatment plans and writing client reports. Live therapy, risk judgement and the clinical relationship stay with the psychologist. Will AI take over psychology? AI can already do 12% of the task time in psychology and speeds up another 60%. People still do 28% of it. The US has 75,990 psychologist jobs, with a projected change of +11.7% from 2024 to 2034. Which psychologist tasks is AI taking over? Documentation and reference lookup go first, with exposure scores of 75 for session notes and client reports and 70 for clinical reference searches. AI scribes draft session notes and treatment plans for the clinician to review and sign. LLMs search and summarize clinical guidelines in seconds, and report drafting is routine writing that AI handles well. Which psychologist tasks stay human? Live psychotherapy, crisis counseling and risk assessment stay with the clinician. Delivering psychotherapy and play therapy requires a human present in the room, and observing play or group behavior requires a clinician physically there. Suicide and violence risk judgement needs a clinician who is accountable for the call. How can psychologists stay valuable as AI takes on documentation? Review every AI-drafted note in eClinicalWorks before signing, and correct the reasoning the draft gets wrong. Move the hours saved into live psychotherapy, group work and risk assessment, the least exposed tasks in this job. Keep your state license current and validate each test score yourself, since the signed report carries your name. ## Related jobs - [Healthcare social workers46 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/healthcare-social-workers/) - [School psychologists47 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/school-psychologists/) - [Psychiatric technicians22 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/psychiatric-technicians/) - [Rehabilitation counselors39 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/rehabilitation-counselors/) ## Next steps for psychologists - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### 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. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.