Job Check
Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric
Diagnose and perform surgery to treat and prevent rheumatic and other diseases in the musculoskeletal system.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Analyze patient's medical history, medication allergies, physical condition, and examination results to verify operation's necessity and to determine best procedure.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 02Conduct research to develop and test surgical techniques that can improve operating procedures and outcomes related to musculoskeletal injuries and diseases.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Diagnose bodily disorders and orthopedic conditions, and provide treatments, such as medicines and surgeries, in clinics, hospital wards, or operating rooms.Mostly human for now
- 04Diagnose or treat disorders of the musculoskeletal system.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 05Direct and coordinate activities of nurses, assistants, specialists, residents, and other medical staff.Mostly human for now
- 06Examine instruments, equipment, and operating room to ensure sterility.Mostly human for now
- 07Examine patient to obtain information on medical condition and surgical risk.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 08Follow established surgical techniques during the operation.Mostly human for now
- 09Manage surgery services, including planning, scheduling and coordination, determination of procedures, or procurement of supplies and equipment.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 10Operate on patient's musculoskeletal system to correct deformities, repair injuries, prevent and treat diseases, or improve or restore patient's functions.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
33%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 24% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Diagnose bodily disorders and orthopedic conditions, and provide treatments, such as medicines and surgeries, in clinics, hospital wards, or operating rooms.
- Direct and coordinate activities of nurses, assistants, specialists, residents, and other medical staff.
- Examine instruments, equipment, and operating room to ensure sterility.