Will AI replace art therapists?

Not on current evidence. Less than 30 minutes of a typical shift goes to tasks that AI or robots are doing today. The other 7h 47m (97%) stays with people. Separately, BLS expects about 12.6% more of these jobs by 2035 (all jobs: +3.5%).

AI shows up regularly in 2 of 25 tasks, about 13m of a typical shift. The biggest ones:

• Communicate client assessment findings and recommendations in oral, written, audio, video, or other forms. (7m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)
• Review research or literature in art therapy, psychology, or related disciplines. (7m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)

Not in workplaces like this one, based on a 2026 review of robot deployments. 2 more tasks have only been done in factory setups built around the machine, so they stay with people here.

7h 47m of a typical shift, or 97%, goes to tasks with no AI or robot evidence yet. No AI usage or robot deployment has shown up for these so far. The biggest:

• Conduct art therapy sessions, providing guided self-expression experiences to help clients recover from, or cope with, cognitive, emotional, or physical impairments. (2h 20m a shift)
• Write treatment plans, case summaries, or progress or other reports related to individual clients or client groups. (40m a shift)
• Observe and document client reactions, progress, or other outcomes related to art therapy. (33m a shift)
• Talk with clients during art or other therapy sessions to build rapport, acknowledge their progress, or reflect upon their reactions to the artistic process. (33m a shift)
• Design art therapy sessions or programs to meet client's goals or objectives. (20m a shift)

Much of it comes down to where and how the work happens. In-person, hands-on and high-stakes work is where AI and robots have made the least headway so far. In the official O*NET survey of people in this job:

• 94% work at arm's length or closer to other people
• 94% talk face to face with others every day
• 58% use their hands on tools, objects or controls more than half the time

On Indeed, job postings in the Therapy sector are at 188% of their February 2020 level (all U.S. postings: 104%), up 3.2% from a year earlier, as of Oct 9, 2026. BLS separately expects about 3,600 openings a year in this job through 2035. Across all U.S. postings, 7.3% now mention AI skills. Sector postings cover more than this one job and move for many reasons besides AI.

The median pay is about $77,930 a year ($37.47 an hour), 53% above the median for all U.S. jobs ($50,980). Most people in this job earn between $46,540 and $152,530 a year; that range covers the middle 80%. Pay figures are from BLS, May 2025, and vary a lot by state and employer. Pick a state to compare:

BLS projects growth of 12.6% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3.5% growth for all jobs. That's about 63,000 jobs in 2035. It expects about 3,600 openings a year, mostly from people retiring or changing careers. These projections don't single out AI as a cause.

About 23,000 people in the U.S., roughly 0.01% of all workers (BLS, May 2025). That makes it the 522nd largest of the 796 jobs on this site. BLS expects about 63,000 in 2035.

The most common requirement is a master's degree: about 91% of people in the job said so in the official O*NET survey. O*NET rates the job at level 5 of 5 for preparation, which usually means: graduate degree. Requirements vary by state and employer, especially for licensed work.

These come from the job's official skill ratings and from the tasks that AI and robots touch least today. Building them keeps you strong in the parts of the work that still need a person:

• Skills that matter more here than in most jobs: Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Monitoring, Judgment and Decision Making
• Get strong at the parts of the job that stay with people (listed above), which take 7h 47m of a typical shift
• Tools employers list: Adobe Acrobat, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign
• Learn to use AI well on the tasks where it already shows up in this job (listed above)

These use similar skills. Matches come from 109 official ratings of skills, knowledge and work activities, and each needs the same or less preparation unless the official list relates the jobs directly:

• Music Therapists (13m touched, $78k median pay)
• Recreational Therapists (1h 14m touched, $62k median pay)
• Occupational Therapists (19m touched, $100k median pay)
• Clinical and Counseling Psychologists (19m touched, $101k median pay)
• Marriage and Family Therapists (0m touched, $67k median pay)

Each task carries its own evidence label. For this job: 2 observed in real AI use, 23 with no AI or robot evidence found. The minutes per task are estimates, not measured hours, and "no evidence" doesn't prove a task is safe.