AI exposure: Radiologists
Diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasounds. May perform minimally invasive medical procedures and tests.
Reading this score
computedRadiologists is one of the unusual cases where capability and friction are both high. Current systems can produce a great deal of this work, with average capability across its tasks at 2.2 out of 4. Only 28.0% of the weighted task load comes out as exposed, because 33.7% of it runs into something structural. Jobs in this band tend not to disappear. They change shape, and the person stays.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 2.67 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 Review procedure requests and patients' medical histories to determine applicability of..., at 60.0%. The least is Administer radioisotopes to clinical patients or research subjects, 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 more exposed than most. The median across the 89 roles in the group is 18.4%, and only 7 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 8 are currently banded exposed, 13 assisted and 9 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 | 2.17 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.90 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.45 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.58 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.83 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.67 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Roles in this band tend to change shape rather than disappear. The output gets drafted faster and the person moves toward review, judgment and accountability. The useful question is not whether to use these tools but who is trusted to sign off on what they produce.
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review procedure requests and patients' medical histories to determine applicability of procedures and radioisotopes to be used. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | – | exposed |
| Prepare comprehensive interpretive reports of findings. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.98 | exposed |
| Document the performance, interpretation, or outcomes of all procedures performed. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.87 | exposed |
| Review or transmit images and information using picture archiving or communications systems. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.84 | exposed |
| Develop or monitor procedures to ensure adequate quality control of images. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.60 | exposed |
| Participate in quality improvement activities including discussions of areas where risk of error is high. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.14 | exposed |
| Check and approve the quality of diagnostic images before patients are discharged. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | – | exposed |
| Obtain patients' histories from electronic records, patient interviews, dictated reports, or by communicating with referring clinicians. | 37.5% | 37.5% | 25.0% | 4.84 | assisted |
| Advise other physicians of the clinical indications, limitations, assessments, or risks of diagnostic and therapeutic applications of radioactive materials. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | – | assisted |
| Participate in continuing education activities to maintain and develop expertise. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Develop treatment plans for radiology patients. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.28 | assisted |
| Compare nuclear medicine procedures with other types of procedures, such as computed tomography, ultrasonography, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, and angiography. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | – | assisted |
| Communicate examination results or diagnostic information to referring physicians, patients, or families. | 27.5% | 47.5% | 25.0% | 4.85 | assisted |
| Confer with medical professionals regarding image-based diagnoses. | 25.0% | 50.0% | 25.0% | 4.79 | assisted |
| Perform or interpret the outcomes of diagnostic imaging procedures including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), nuclear cardiology treadmill studies, mammography, or ultrasound. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.92 | assisted |
| Calculate, measure, or prepare radioisotope dosages. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Establish or enforce standards for protection of patients or personnel. | 18.3% | 31.7% | 50.0% | 4.46 | assisted |
| Establish and enforce radiation protection standards for patients and staff. | 18.3% | 31.7% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Formulate plans and procedures for nuclear medicine departments. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | – | assisted |
| Provide counseling to radiologic patients to explain the processes, risks, benefits, or alternative treatments. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.51 | assisted |
| Coordinate radiological services with other medical activities. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.44 | assisted |
| Test dosage evaluation instruments and survey meters to ensure they are operating properly. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Prescribe radionuclides and dosages to be administered to individual patients. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Instruct radiologic staff in desired techniques, positions, or projections. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.42 | untouched |
| Direct nuclear medicine technologists or technicians regarding desired dosages, techniques, positions, and projections. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Teach nuclear medicine, diagnostic radiology, or other specialties at graduate educational level. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Recognize or treat complications during and after procedures, including blood pressure problems, pain, oversedation, or bleeding. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.77 | untouched |
| Monitor handling of radioactive materials to ensure that established procedures are followed. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | – | untouched |
| Perform interventional procedures such as image-guided biopsy, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, transhepatic biliary drainage, or nephrostomy catheter placement. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.72 | untouched |
| Administer radioisotopes to clinical patients or research subjects. | 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. 13 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.