Careers, task by task

Don't ask about the job. Ask about the tasks.

There's no risk score here, because no honest one exists. Instead, 14 routesbroken into the actual work, with what's verified about AI in each task, and a plain "insufficient evidence" where there's nothing solid.

Physician specialties (MD, DO)

Family medicineCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years$244,180
PediatricsCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years$210,040
PsychiatryCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years$281,870
RadiologyCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years$420,860
PathologyCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years$312,400
DermatologyCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years
SurgeryCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years$414,010
AnesthesiologyCollege, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years$391,490

Other routes to the same mission

Three selected, the most we compare at once.

Side by side

Not ranked. Which one is better depends on what you want from your work.

	Anesthesiology	Nurse practitioner, midwife or anesthetist	Surgery
Training	College, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years	Nursing degree and license, then a master's degree	College, four years of medical school, then a residency of 3 or more years
Education cost	Median four-year cost of attendance $286,454 public, $390,848 private, in-state, Class of 2025 (AAMC). Your school can differ a lot.	Not verified yet. Costs vary widely by program, so compare them directly.	Median four-year cost of attendance $286,454 public, $390,848 private, in-state, Class of 2025 (AAMC). Your school can differ a lot.
Today's median pay	$391,490	$134,920	$414,010
Projected job growth, 2025 to 2035	Not verified yet	36%	4%
Patient contact	Direct, brief and high stakes	Direct	Direct, with intense moments
The work, and AI today	Planning anesthesia for each patientInsufficient evidence Monitoring during surgeryInsufficient evidence Airway and line placementInsufficient evidence Responding to emergenciesInsufficient evidence Calming patients before surgeryInsufficient evidence	Assessing and diagnosingInsufficient evidence Renewing prescriptionsNarrow use or authorization Delivering babies or giving anesthesia, in those rolesInsufficient evidence Long-term patient relationshipsInsufficient evidence Writing notes and chartingIn real use today	Operating on soft tissueResearch only Bone procedures that follow a set planNarrow use or authorization Deciding whether and how to operateInsufficient evidence Handling complicationsInsufficient evidence Talking with patients and familiesInsufficient evidence
Skills that transfer	Physiology, Crisis management, Critical care, Procedural skill	Nursing foundation, Clinical judgment, Patient education, Leadership	Anatomy, Team leadership under pressure, Robotics literacy, Decision-making
What nobody has measured	Verified evidence on closed-loop or automated anesthesia in real care, which we haven't checked yet. How team models with nurse anesthetists change.	How state scope of practice laws will move. These roles may face their own automation pressure, which no one has measured well.	When autonomy might reach living patients, and how safely. BLS has no separate line for general surgeons, so this pay figure is "surgeons, all other".

Pay and growth are May 2025 medians and 2025 to 2035 projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a snapshot and not a forecast. Open a route to see the source behind each task.

Test your debt against these

Sources last checked November 6, 2026

Next review by February 6, 2027.

What changed, and how we decide

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