All occupations › Healthcare practitionersCan AI Replace Recreational Therapists in 2026? Lower exposure. AI could handle about 45% of today's recreational therapists tasks by 2036, and there is a 10% chance the number of jobs falls by a fifth or more. AI both assists and takes over tasks.
See how not to be replaced
Timeline Year 2030 Headcount (2025 = 100)
100
Chance of 20%+ fewer jobs
7% 2030 · 10% 2036
One person could cover, 2036
1.4 roles
0% 50% 100% 2026 2028 2030 2032 2034 2036 2026: 12% 2027: 14% 2028: 16% 2029: 19% 2030: 24% 2031: 29% 2032: 34% 2033: 38% 2034: 41% 2035: 44% 2036: 45% 24% Share of today's tasks AI can perform 40 80 120 2026 2028 2030 2032 2034 2036 2026: 101 2027: 101 2028: 101 2029: 101 2030: 100 2031: 99 2032: 99 2033: 98 2034: 98 2035: 98 2036: 98 100 Headcount index, 2025 = 100 (dashed line) Your survival map Not every part of your job is at the same risk. Tap a number to see what to do about each task.
You 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Tap a number on the map or a task below.
1 Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological… 2 Conduct therapy sessions to improve patients' mental and physical well-being. 3 Plan, organize, direct, and participate in treatment programs and activities to facilitate patients' rehabilitation, help them integrate into the community, and prevent… 4 Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy. 5 Obtain information from medical records, medical staff, family members and the patients, themselves, to assess patients' capabilities, needs and interests. 6 Develop discharge plans for patients. 7 Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression. Your plan Ticks are saved in this browser only.
Try an AI tool on one task you'd normally do by hand: "Prepare and submit reports and charts to treatment team to reflect patients' reactions and evidence of progress or regression". Learn one AI tool well enough to show it in an interview, for: "Develop treatment plan to meet needs of patient, based on needs assessment, patient interests, and objectives of therapy". Get visibly better at your human core: "Instruct patient in activities and techniques, such as sports, dance, music, art, or relaxation techniques, designed to meet their specific physical or psychological…". Rewrite the top of your CV around judgment, people and decisions, not routine output. Based on 11 O*NET tasks for "Recreational Therapists" (SOC 29-1125.00). LLM alone: 9% of tasks; with AI tools: 55%. Projections are a model, not official statistics. How we calculate this · Data version 2026-10
