Will AI replace Speech-Language Pathologists?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
37/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 58% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 67% of the work
What the job involves
Assess and treat persons with speech, language, voice, and fluency disorders. May select alternative communication systems and teach their use. May perform research related to speech and language problems.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(15)
- Evaluate hearing or speech and language test results, barium swallow results, or medical or background information to diagnose and plan treatment for speech, language, fluency, voice, or swallowing disorders.
- Write reports and maintain proper documentation of information, such as client Medicaid or billing records or caseload activities, including the initial evaluation, treatment, progress, and discharge of clients.
- Develop or implement treatment plans for problems such as stuttering, delayed language, swallowing disorders, or inappropriate pitch or harsh voice problems, based on own assessments and recommendations of physicians, psychologists, or social workers.
- Participate in and write reports for meetings regarding patients' progress, such as individualized educational planning (IEP) meetings, in-service meetings, or intervention assistance team meetings.
- Consult with and advise educators or medical staff on speech or hearing topics, such as communication strategies or speech and language stimulation.
and 10 more
Out of reach(8)
- Monitor patients' progress and adjust treatments accordingly.
- Administer hearing or speech and language evaluations, tests, or examinations to patients to collect information on type and degree of impairments, using written or oral tests or special instruments.
- Educate patients and family members about various topics, such as communication techniques or strategies to cope with or to avoid personal misunderstandings.
- Instruct clients in techniques for more effective communication, such as sign language, lip reading, or voice improvement.
- Teach clients to control or strengthen tongue, jaw, face muscles, or breathing mechanisms.
and 3 more
Also called
Speech Therapist · Speech Clinician · Speech and Language Specialist · Speech Pathologist · Language Pathologist · Oral Therapist · Public School Speech Clinician · Public School Speech Therapist
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