Will AI replace Community Health Workers?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
38/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 59% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 45% of the work
What the job involves
Promote health within a community by assisting individuals to adopt healthy behaviors. Serve as an advocate for the health needs of individuals by assisting community residents in effectively communicating with healthcare providers or social service agencies. Act as liaison or advocate and implement programs that promote, maintain, and improve individual and overall community health. May deliver health-related preventive services such as blood pressure, glaucoma, and hearing screenings. May collect data to help identify community health needs.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(12)
- Refer community members to needed health services.
- Advise clients or community groups on issues related to improving general health, such as diet or exercise.
- Advise clients or community groups on issues related to self-care, such as diabetes management.
- Maintain updated client records with plans, notes, appropriate forms, or related information.
- Develop plans or formal contracts for individuals, families, or community groups to improve overall health.
and 7 more
Out of reach(17)
- Contact clients in person, by phone, or in writing to ensure they have completed required or recommended actions.
- Report incidences of child or elder abuse, neglect, or threats of harm to authorities, as required.
- Advocate for individual or community health needs with government agencies or health service providers.
- Attend community meetings or health fairs to understand community issues or build relationships with community members.
- Monitor nutrition of children, elderly, or other high-risk groups.
and 12 more
Also called
Community Health Outreach Worker · Community Health Promoter · Community Navigator · Community Health Advisor · Community Health Advocate · Community Health Navigator · Community Health Representative · Lay Health Advocate
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics