The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 29-1229.03 · Job Zone 5

AI exposure: Urologists

Diagnose, treat, and help prevent benign and malignant medical and surgical disorders of the genitourinary system and the renal glands.

Reading this score

computed

At 13.0% of weighted task load, Urologists sits at the 20th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 65.3% 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 accountability. Across this occupation's 14 tasks it averages 2.86 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, someone licensed has to sign the work. Capability and permission are different things. Where a statute or a professional body requires a named, liable human to approve the output, the work can be drafted by a machine and still require the person.

The most exposed thing this job does is Document or review patients' histories, at 56.7%. The least is Perform brachytherapy, cryotherapy, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), or photodynamic..., at 0.0%. A gap of 56.7% 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 70 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 14 tasks, 1 are currently banded exposed, 3 assisted and 10 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

judged

Every 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.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability1.350-4
Embodiment1.430-3
Presence2.120-3
Accountability2.860-3
Context1.930-3
Verification cost2.860-3

Task by task

14 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Document or review patients' histories.56.7%43.3%0.0%4.76exposed
Provide urology consultation to physicians or other health care professionals.35.0%40.0%25.0%4.69assisted
Order and interpret the results of diagnostic tests, such as prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening, to detect prostate cancer.29.2%33.3%37.5%4.77assisted
Refer patients to specialists when condition exceeds experience, expertise, or scope of practice.16.7%33.3%50.0%4.31assisted
Prescribe medications to treat patients with erectile dysfunction (ED), infertility, or ejaculation problems.8.3%16.7%75.0%4.53untouched
Examine patients using equipment, such as radiograph (x-ray) machines or fluoroscopes, to determine the nature and extent of disorder or injury.6.7%18.3%75.0%4.80untouched
Diagnose or treat diseases or disorders of genitourinary organs and tracts including erectile dysfunction (ED), infertility, incontinence, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, urethral stones, or premature ejaculation.5.2%28.1%66.7%4.89untouched
Direct the work of nurses, residents, or other staff to provide patient care.5.0%20.0%75.0%4.63untouched
Teach or train medical and clinical staff.5.0%20.0%75.0%4.25untouched
Treat urologic disorders using alternatives to traditional surgery such as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, laparoscopy, or laser techniques.3.3%21.7%75.0%4.72untouched
Prescribe or administer antibiotics, antiseptics, or compresses to treat infection or injury.2.9%9.6%87.5%4.76untouched
Treat lower urinary tract dysfunctions using equipment such as diathermy machines, catheters, cystoscopes, or radium emanation tubes.1.7%10.8%87.5%4.68untouched
Perform abdominal, pelvic, or retroperitoneal surgeries.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.63untouched
Perform brachytherapy, cryotherapy, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), or photodynamic therapy to treat prostate or other cancers.0.0%0.0%100.0%3.88untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.

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.