AI exposure: Nuclear Medicine Technologists
Prepare, administer, and measure radioactive isotopes in therapeutic, diagnostic, and tracer studies using a variety of radioisotope equipment. Prepare stock solutions of radioactive materials and calculate doses to be administered by radiologists. Subject patients to radiation. Execute blood volume, red cell survival, and fat absorption studies following standard laboratory techniques.
Reading this score
computedAt 21.9% of weighted task load, Nuclear Medicine Technologists sits at the 40th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 55.2% 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 17 tasks it averages 2.47 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 Gather information on patients' illnesses and medical history to guide the choice of diagnostic..., at 60.0%. The least is Maintain and calibrate radioisotope and laboratory equipment, 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 22 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 17 tasks, 5 are currently banded exposed, 2 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. 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 | 1.71 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.71 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.26 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.38 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.50 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.47 | 0-3 |
Task by task
17 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gather information on patients' illnesses and medical history to guide the choice of diagnostic procedures for therapy. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.59 | exposed |
| Calculate, measure, and record radiation dosage or radiopharmaceuticals received, used, and disposed, using computer and following physician's prescription. | 56.7% | 43.3% | 0.0% | 4.77 | exposed |
| Record and process results of procedures. | 49.6% | 37.9% | 12.5% | 4.76 | exposed |
| Process cardiac function studies, using computer. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.79 | exposed |
| Produce a computer-generated or film image for interpretation by a physician. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.76 | exposed |
| Develop treatment procedures for nuclear medicine treatment programs. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.40 | assisted |
| Detect and map radiopharmaceuticals in patients' bodies, using a camera to produce photographic or computer images. | 13.8% | 23.8% | 62.5% | 4.86 | untouched |
| Explain test procedures and safety precautions to patients and provide them with assistance during test procedures. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.74 | assisted |
| Perform quality control checks on laboratory equipment or cameras. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.73 | untouched |
| Add radioactive substances to biological specimens, such as blood, urine, or feces, to determine therapeutic drug or hormone levels. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.41 | untouched |
| Measure glandular activity, blood volume, red cell survival, or radioactivity of patient, using scanners, Geiger counters, scintillometers, or other laboratory equipment. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Train or supervise student or subordinate nuclear medicine technologists. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 3.79 | untouched |
| Position radiation fields, radiation beams, and patient to allow for most effective treatment of patient's disease, using computer. | 4.6% | 7.9% | 87.5% | 4.49 | untouched |
| Dispose of radioactive materials and store radiopharmaceuticals, following radiation safety procedures. | 4.2% | 20.8% | 75.0% | 4.72 | untouched |
| Prepare stock radiopharmaceuticals, adhering to safety standards that minimize radiation exposure to workers and patients. | 2.5% | 10.0% | 87.5% | 4.74 | untouched |
| Administer radiopharmaceuticals or radiation intravenously to detect or treat diseases, using radioisotope equipment, under direction of a physician. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.91 | untouched |
| Maintain and calibrate radioisotope and laboratory equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.57 | untouched |
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.