by Joan Hannant, Founder & CEO of The Soma Institute
Artificial intelligence can draft an email, summarize a report, answer a customer question, and help organize a schedule in seconds. What it can’t do is place a trained hand on a tense muscle, feel how a client’s body responds to pressure, or create the sense of trust that helps someone relax during treatment.
For someone weighing a new career, that is a meaningful difference.
AI is changing the way people work across many fields. Hands-on careers like massage therapy, however, are proving far more resistant to automation than jobs focused largely on creating, processing, or sharing information.
For people exploring AI-resistant careers, massage therapy offers something software cannot reproduce: skilled, responsive care delivered by one person to another.
What Current Research Says About AI and Work
A 2025 Microsoft Research study looked at 200,000 anonymized conversations between people and Microsoft Bing Copilot to understand how AI is being used at work. Researchers connected the goals and actions in those conversations with work activities listed in the U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored O*NET database.[1][2]
The clearest pattern was around information-based work. People frequently turned to AI for help gathering information, writing, teaching, explaining, advising, and communicating with others. Roles with a large share of those activities, including some in sales, customer service, and administrative support, tended to receive higher AI applicability scores.
Massage therapy appeared near the low end of the researchers’ occupation-level results.[3] In other words, there was relatively little overlap between the work massage therapists do and the tasks people were successfully completing with Copilot.
It is important to be precise about what that means. The study did not track layoffs or predict which occupations will disappear. Still, the contrast is telling: generative AI works primarily with information, while the core of massage therapy is physical, sensory, and deeply personal.
Why Massage Therapy Is Difficult to Automate
Anyone who has had a truly good massage knows the experience is not a standard sequence of movements. A therapist listens to the client, asks the right questions, pays attention to what they feel and observe, and adjusts as the session unfolds.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics describes massage therapists’ duties as talking with clients about symptoms and treatment goals, evaluating painful or tense areas, manipulating soft tissues and joints, and offering individualized guidance. The BLS also identifies communication, decision-making, empathy, integrity, interpersonal skills, physical stamina, strength, and dexterity as important qualities for the profession.[4]
That combination of knowledge, physical skill, and human judgment is exactly what makes the work difficult to automate.
The work requires skilled touch
A massage therapist uses their hands, fingers, forearms, and elbows to apply pressure and work with soft tissue. Touch also gives the therapist information. A subtle change in muscle tension, movement, or the client’s response can shape what they do next.
There is no prompt that can do that work from across the room. It calls for physical presence and trained, moment-by-moment judgment.
Every client and every session is different
Two clients can walk in describing the same sore shoulder and need very different care. Their health histories, movement patterns, preferences, and goals all matter. A therapist has to ask questions, recognize when massage may not be appropriate, choose suitable techniques, and continually adjust their approach.
AI may help behind the scenes with scheduling, general research, marketing, or first drafts of routine notes. It can change how a massage practice runs. It cannot assess the person on the table or provide the hands-on care they came for.
Trust is part of the service
Massage therapy asks for a level of trust that many services do not. A client may be in pain, recovering from an injury, dealing with stress, or simply unsure about what to expect. They need to feel heard, respected, and safe.
Explaining what is happening, maintaining professional boundaries, noticing discomfort, and responding with empathy are not extras. They are part of good care. Soma’s article on the essential skills massage therapists should have looks more closely at the role communication, empathy, and flexibility play in the client experience.
The Massage Therapy Career Outlook in Illinois
Of course, resistance to automation is only one reason to consider a career. The more immediate question is whether trained massage therapists are needed in Illinois.
O*NET’s current Illinois projections estimate:
- Approximately 7,260 massage therapist jobs in Illinois in 2024
- 9% projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034
- About 990 projected job openings per year over that period[5]
Nationally, the BLS projects employment of massage therapists to grow 15% between 2024 and 2034, compared with 3% for all occupations. This reflects the continued demand for massage services and growing interest in massage for relaxation, pain management, and overall well-being.[4]
Soma is seeing that need much closer to home, too. James Cussen, VP of Financial Aid and Operations of the Soma Institute points to the school’s employer relationships and job postings as a practical sign that organizations continue to seek licensed massage therapists:
“While AI has negatively impacted jobs in sales, administration and customer service, massage therapy is proving to be one of the least impacted professions. Massage therapy, with its inherent resistance to automation and its reliance on touch, trust, and human connection, is one of the least impacted careers. And the proof is in the increased demand from Soma employers looking for new massage therapists. With over 200 open massage therapy positions on the Soma Job Board, Soma graduates are in demand.”
— Michael Hovi, Soma Program Director, Chair of the Illinois Massage Therapy Licensing Board, and AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association) Meritorious Award recipient.
The Soma Job Board gives licensed graduates a look at opportunities submitted by employers. As with any job board, the number and type of active postings can change, and employment is not guaranteed.
Technology May Change the Work Without Replacing the Therapist
What sets massage therapy apart from many other AI-resistant careers is that technology can support the work without taking over its central purpose. Therapists and practice owners may use AI-enabled tools to draft appointment reminders, organize information, create basic marketing content, or lighten some of the administrative workload.
Used thoughtfully, that could be helpful. Less time spent on routine office work can mean more attention for client communication, treatment planning, continuing education, and the work clients actually came for.
So the useful question is not simply, “Will AI affect this career?” It is, “How much of this work depends on a person being physically present, exercising judgment, and responding to another human being?”
In massage therapy, those are not side tasks. They are the heart of the profession.
Building the Skills That Cannot Be Downloaded
You cannot learn massage therapy from a textbook alone. Anatomy and theory matter, but so do supervised practice, honest feedback from experienced instructors, and the experience of working with different people and bodies.
The Soma Institute’s 600-hour Clinical Massage Therapy Diploma Program combines classroom learning with practical training and supervised clinical experience. Students learn techniques including Swedish massage, trigger point therapy, neuromuscular techniques, hydrotherapy, and sports massage. The program can be completed in as little as nine months in the daytime format or 11 months in the evening format.*
For a closer look at the path from education to licensure, read Soma’s guide to becoming a massage therapist in Illinois.
A Career Built Around Human Care
As AI reshapes more desk-based work, a career grounded in practical, in-person care may feel especially meaningful.
The tools used around massage therapy may change. Its essential work remains distinctly human: listening, building trust, assessing a client in real time, and using skilled touch to respond to what that person needs.
If that sounds like work you could see yourself doing, explore Soma’s Clinical Massage Therapy program and see what training for a hands-on career looks like.
*Program length when completed in normal time.
Sources
- Kiran Tomlinson, Sonia Jaffe, Will Wang, Scott Counts, and Siddharth Suri, “Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations”, Microsoft Research, revised December 2025.
- O*NET Resource Center, “About O*NET”, National Center for O*NET Development.
- Microsoft Research, AI Applicability Scores by Occupation, supplemental data for Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Massage Therapists,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 projections.
- O*NET OnLine, Illinois Employment Trends: Massage Therapists, using 2024–2034 state projections.