AI exposure: Cardiologists
Diagnose, treat, manage, and prevent diseases or conditions of the cardiovascular system. May further subspecialize in interventional procedures (e.g., balloon angioplasty and stent placement), echocardiography, or electrophysiology.
Reading this score
computedAt 16.2% of weighted task load, Cardiologists sits at the 26th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 60.0% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 25 tasks it averages 2.84 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Calculate valve areas from blood flow velocity measurements, at 60.0%. The least is Perform vascular procedures, at 0.0%. A gap of 60.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within healthcare practitioner and technical occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 18.5% across the group's 89 roles, with 57 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 25 tasks, 5 are currently banded exposed, 8 assisted and 12 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take a change in who is permitted to sign the work, which is a question for regulators rather than for engineers. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.60 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.36 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.82 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.78 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.82 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.84 | 0-3 |
Task by task
25 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calculate valve areas from blood flow velocity measurements. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | – | exposed |
| Advise patients and community members concerning diet, activity, hygiene, or disease prevention. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Answer questions that patients have about their health and well-being. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Compare measurements of heart wall thickness and chamber sizes to standards to identify abnormalities, using the results of an echocardiogram. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Diagnose medical conditions of patients, using records, reports, test results, or examination information. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Obtain and record patient information, including patient identification, medical history, and examination results. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | – | assisted |
| Conduct research to develop or test medications, treatments, or procedures that prevent or control disease or injury. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Order medical tests, such as echocardiograms, electrocardiograms, and angiograms. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Recommend surgeons or surgical procedures. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Talk to other physicians about patients to create a treatment plan. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Design and explain treatment plans, based on patient information such as medical history, reports, and examination results. | 15.0% | 35.0% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Explain procedures and discuss test results or prescribed treatments with patients. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Monitor patients' conditions and progress, and reevaluate treatments, as necessary. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Prescribe heart medication to treat or prevent heart problems. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Operate diagnostic imaging equipment to produce contrast-enhanced radiographs of heart and cardiovascular system. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Conduct exercise electrocardiogram tests to monitor cardiovascular activity under stress. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Supervise or train cardiology technologists or students. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Diagnose cardiovascular conditions, using cardiac catheterization. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Observe ultrasound display screen, and listen to signals to record vascular information, such as blood pressure, limb volume changes, oxygen saturation, and cerebral circulation. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Conduct electrocardiogram (EKG), phonocardiogram, echocardiogram, or other cardiovascular tests to record patients' cardiac activity, using specialized electronic test equipment, recording devices, or laboratory instruments. | 2.1% | 10.4% | 87.5% | – | untouched |
| Conduct tests of the pulmonary system, using a spirometer or other respiratory testing equipment. | 2.1% | 10.4% | 87.5% | – | untouched |
| Administer emergency cardiac care for life-threatening heart problems, such as cardiac arrest and heart attack. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
| Inject contrast media into patients' blood vessels. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
| Perform minimally invasive surgical procedures, such as implanting pacemakers and defibrillators. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
| Perform vascular procedures, such as balloon angioplasty and stents. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | – | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 25 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.