Will AI replace Surgical Technologists?

This score cannot predict whether this occupation or any individual job will be replaced. It shows which tasks current and near-term AI can perform or accelerate, which tasks remain more durable, and where a worker can adapt. Employer decisions, demand, regulation, and how the role changes are outside the score.

What does a score of 20 mean for a Surgical Technologists?

It means that, weighted across the 16 tasks we analyzed for this role, the task mix sits at 20 on a 0–100 exposure scale — in the least-exposed quarter of analyzed occupations. It measures task exposure to current and near-term AI capabilities, not the probability of losing a job.

Which tasks in this role are most exposed to AI?

This role has no strongly automatable task in the current data release.

Is this score personalized to me?

No — this page shows the occupation-level baseline. Two people with the same title often do different work. The $9 personalized report recalculates the score from the tasks you actually do and builds a concrete 7/30/90-day plan around them.

Surgical Technologists

Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel. May help set up operating room, prepare and transport patients for surgery, adjust lights and equipment, pass instruments and other supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors, cut sutures, and help count sponges, needles, supplies, and instruments.

Also known as: Scrub Technician · Surgical Orderly · Surgical Technician · Surgical Scrub Technician · Certified Surgical Technician · Surgery Technician (Surgery Tech)

AI Task Exposure Score

Low exposure

More exposed than 16% of 968 occupations · Rank #784 (1 = most exposed)

This score estimates how exposed the tasks in a role are to current and near-term AI capabilities. It does not predict whether a specific person will lose a job.

Your free role snapshot

Start with the work, not the headline

This occupation baseline already contains different kinds of work. These are the two ends of its current task range and one useful action you can take now.

Most exposed task

Maintain files and records of surgical procedures.

Augmentable 55/100 exposure

Most durable task

Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation.

Durable 8/100 exposure

Useful next step

Make one change to the task mix

Protect the durable core of the role, then use AI to compress the routine work around it before that becomes a mandate.

Want this mapped to your actual week? Know what to strengthen, what to delegate to AI with review, and what to do over the next 7, 30, and 90 days.

Build my 7/30/90-day action plan — $9

Most exposed tasks

No task is classified fully automatable in this release. The highest-exposure task relative to this role is shown in the free snapshot above; the assistive work is detailed next.

Augmentable tasks

Work where AI assists rather than replaces — the productivity frontier of this role.

Maintain files and records of surgical procedures.55
Order surgical supplies.45

Most durable tasks

Lowest exposure — typically judgment, relationships, physical presence, or accountability. This is the human moat.

Maintain a proper sterile field during surgical procedures.8
Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation.8
Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing.10

Task exposure values and classifications are published, versioned estimates audited against the anchored rubric. This page reads them from the data release rather than generating them at request time. Bars show exposure contribution relative to this role’s task mix.

What this means

A score of 20 puts Surgical Technologists in the least-exposed quarter of analyzed occupations. In practice, exposure this level is about the mix: 0 of 16 analyzed tasks lean automatable, 2 augmentable, and 14 durable. The useful question isn’t “will AI take this job” — it’s which tasks go first, which get faster, and where to reposition time. That’s what the personalized report maps against your actual week.

Lower-exposure adjacent roles

No adjacent role in the current data release is at least 10 points lower with ≥50% skill overlap — we don’t label anything “safer” unless the data supports it.

Labor-market context

$64,650median wage
117,460employed
7,000annual openings
+4.5%projected growth

Context only — labor statistics are not inputs to the exposure score. See methodology.

Turn your actual week into a plan

Know which work to strengthen, what to delegate to AI with review, and what to do over the next 7, 30, and 90 days. Your $9 plan includes a confidence-rated personal score, task matrix, human moat, and only genuinely lower-exposure adjacent roles.

Build my 7/30/90-day action plan — $9

Related roles

Adjacent by skills or family — no exposure claim implied.

How this score was calculated

The score is the plain average of the AI-exposure values of this role’s 16 analyzed tasks (equal task weights in this release — no hidden factors):

Augmentable 2 tasks, averaging 50/100 exposure
Durable 14 tasks, averaging 15/100 exposure

score = (2×50 + 14×15) ÷ 16 ≈ 20

Every task’s exposure value was scored against a published anchored rubric that scores tasks as actually performed — physical, in-person, and accountability requirements included (data release 2026.07.12-r2). The band (Low) is a corpus quartile; the percentile is tie-aware across all 968 occupations.

FAQ — Surgical Technologists

Will AI replace Surgical Technologists?: This score cannot predict whether this occupation or any individual job will be replaced. It shows which tasks current and near-term AI can perform or accelerate, which tasks remain more durable, and where a worker can adapt. Employer decisions, demand, regulation, and how the role changes are outside the score.
What does a score of 20 mean for a Surgical Technologists?: It means that, weighted across the 16 tasks we analyzed for this role, the task mix sits at 20 on a 0–100 exposure scale — in the least-exposed quarter of analyzed occupations. It measures task exposure to current and near-term AI capabilities, not the probability of losing a job.
Which tasks in this role are most exposed to AI?: This role has no strongly automatable task in the current data release.
Which parts of this job are most durable?: The most durable responsibilities are: Maintain a proper sterile field during surgical procedures; Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation; Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing. Durable tasks typically depend on judgment, relationships, physical presence, or accountability.
Is this score personalized to me?: No — this page shows the occupation-level baseline. Two people with the same title often do different work. The $9 personalized report recalculates the score from the tasks you actually do and builds a concrete 7/30/90-day plan around them.

Score version jr-v1 · data release 2026.07.12-r2 · updated 2026-07-13 · baseline mapping: 16 of 16 tasks carry source-level provenance · methodology