Will AI replace Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers?
Estimated risk score: 33 out of 100
Lower replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (14 to 52).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 22 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 39-4031.00 · Personal Care and Service
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 4 of its 22 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Maintain financial records, order merchandise, or prepare accounts.
- Obtain information needed to complete legal documents, such as death certificates or burial permits.
- Contact cemeteries to schedule the opening and closing of graves.
- Inform survivors of benefits for which they may be eligible.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 17 of its 22 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Clean funeral home facilities and grounds.
- Close caskets and lead funeral corteges to churches or burial sites.
- Offer counsel and comfort to bereaved families or friends.
- Oversee the preparation and care of the remains of people who have died.
- Perform embalming duties, as necessary.
- Plan placement of caskets at funeral sites or place or adjust lights, fixtures, or floral displays.
What the job is
Perform various tasks to arrange and direct individual funeral services, such as coordinating transportation of body to mortuary, interviewing family or other authorized person to arrange details, selecting pallbearers, aiding with the selection of officials for religious rites, and providing transportation for mourners.
Also called: Mortician, Funeral Arranger, Undertaker, Funeral Planner, Hospital Mortician, Licensed Mortician, Certified Mortician, Funeral Location Manager.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate