Career Explorer Healthcare (clinical)
Grows with AI
General internal medicine physicians
Diagnose and provide nonsurgical treatment for a wide range of diseases and injuries of internal organ systems. Provide care mainly for adults and adolescents, and are based primarily in an outpatient care setting.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 42% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +4.0% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on ethical judgement and emotional intelligence.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $256,560
- Job growth to 2035
- +4.0%
- Openings a year
- 1,900
- People doing it (2025)
- 73,100
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree, then an internship or residency
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on healthcare or wellness issues
- Explain medical information to patients or family members
- Advise patients or clients on medical issues
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Treat injuries, illnesses, or diseases
- Diagnose health conditions or disorders
- Administer basic health care or medical treatments
What the work looks like
- Analyze records, reports, test results, or examination information to diagnose medical condition of patient.
- Treat internal disorders, such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, or problems of the lung, brain, kidney, or gastrointestinal tract.
- Prescribe or administer medication, therapy, and other specialized medical care to treat or prevent illness, disease, or injury.
- Manage and treat common health problems, such as infections, influenza or pneumonia, as well as serious, chronic, and complex illnesses, in adolescents, adults, and the elderly.
- Provide and manage long-term, comprehensive medical care, including diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases, for adult patients in an office or hospital.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- More of these jobs, as internists shift away from practicing primary care to working for hospitals as hospitalists.
- Fewer of these jobs, as internists shift away from practicing primary care to working for hospitals as hospitalists.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- DermatologistsHuman edge, growing, Index 78, +6.8%
- Nurse practitionersGrows with AI, Index 88, +41.0%
- Athletic trainersGrows with AI, Index 81, +12.7%
- Physicians, all otherChanging shape, Index 56, +3.4%
Also known as: Internal Medicine Physician (IM Physician), Internist, Medical Doctor (MD), Physician, Doctor, Gastroenterologist, General Internal Medicine Physician, General Internist.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.