Will AI Replace Pharmacists?

More exposed than most occupations, ranked 119 of 785. Employment is projected to grow +5.2% by 2035, from 325,000 jobs today.

A pharmacist in a white coat reaching for a medication box on a shelf
Photo by @nci on Unsplash

Where this job sits against every other

Least exposed785 occupationsMost exposed
#119 of 785 occupations, ordered by AI exposure

Each column is a slice of the 785 occupations Microsoft measured for how much of their work today's AI can do. Pharmacists sit in the blue column.

So the two measures point in opposite directions. AI reaches a lot of this work, and the projection still has the occupation growing. Exposure is not the same thing as replacement.

What the job is made of

The biggest single piece of this job is “Verify personal information”, at 10.8% of the work. The column on the right is a different measure entirely: out of every time someone asked AI to do that activity, how often it actually got it right. It counts attempts people made, so a high number does not mean the work has moved to AI. It means AI is capable of that task when asked.

Share of the jobAI success rate
Verify personal information
10.8%
72% of attempts
Explain medical information to patients or family members
9.3%
96% of attempts
Advise patients or clients on medical issues
9.3%
96% of attempts
Maintain health or medical records
9.3%
100% of attempts
Prepare mixtures or solutions
7.0%
95% of attempts
Purchase goods or services
6.0%
93% of attempts

18 activities make up this occupation in the government's classification. The six here are the ones that define it most.

AI is weakest at “Verify personal information”, which is 10.8% of this job. Asked to do it, it finishes correctly 72% of the time. The work it handles well sits above 90%.

The numbers behind it

325,000people doing this work
+5.2%projected change by 2035
$140,910median pay, US

Employment and pay are United States figures, the only country publishing this per occupation. The work activities and the AI measurements are not country specific.

There are about 13,000 openings a year here, counting people who retire or move on as well as new positions.

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