AI exposure: Radiologic Technologists and Technicians
Take x-rays and CAT scans or administer nonradioactive materials into patient's bloodstream for diagnostic or research purposes. Includes radiologic technologists and technicians who specialize in other scanning modalities.
Reading this score
computedAt 19.3% of weighted task load, Radiologic Technologists and Technicians sits at the 34th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 57.2% 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 accountability. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 2.26 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 Operate digital picture archiving communications systems, at 60.0%. The least is Provide assistance in dressing or changing seriously ill or injured patients or patients with..., 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 39 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, 7 are currently banded exposed, 7 assisted and 16 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 | 1.69 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.70 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.68 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 2.26 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.53 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.22 | 0-3 |
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operate digital picture archiving communications systems. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.55 | exposed |
| Maintain a current file of examination protocols. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.00 | exposed |
| Perform general administrative tasks, such as answering phones, scheduling patient appointments, or pulling and filing films. | 55.4% | 32.1% | 12.5% | 3.80 | exposed |
| Record, process, and maintain patient data or treatment records and prepare reports. | 53.3% | 46.7% | 0.0% | 4.76 | exposed |
| Key commands and data into computer to document and specify scan sequences, adjust transmitters and receivers, or photograph certain images. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.26 | exposed |
| Process exposed radiographs using film processors or computer generated methods. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.79 | exposed |
| Review and evaluate developed x-rays, video tape, or computer-generated information to determine if images are satisfactory for diagnostic purposes. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.71 | exposed |
| Make exposures necessary for the requested procedures, rejecting and repeating work that does not meet established standards. | 31.2% | 31.2% | 37.5% | 4.47 | assisted |
| Determine patients' x-ray needs by reading requests or instructions from physicians. | 30.0% | 45.0% | 25.0% | 4.71 | assisted |
| Take thorough and accurate patient medical histories. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.48 | assisted |
| Perform supervisory duties, such as developing departmental operating budget, coordinating purchases of supplies or equipment, or preparing work schedules. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 3.79 | assisted |
| Use radiation safety measures and protection devices to comply with government regulations and to ensure safety of patients and staff. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.67 | assisted |
| Coordinate work with clerical personnel or other technologists and technicians. | 13.3% | 36.7% | 50.0% | 4.15 | assisted |
| Monitor patients' conditions and reactions, reporting abnormal signs to physician. | 11.7% | 38.3% | 50.0% | 4.38 | assisted |
| Complete quality control activities, monitor equipment operation, and report malfunctioning equipment to supervisor. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.75 | untouched |
| Explain procedures and observe patients to ensure safety and comfort during scan. | 7.5% | 30.0% | 62.5% | 4.95 | untouched |
| Position imaging equipment and adjust controls to set exposure time and distance, according to specification of examination. | 7.5% | 17.5% | 75.0% | 4.65 | untouched |
| Perform procedures, such as linear tomography, mammography, sonograms, joint and cyst aspirations, routine contrast studies, routine fluoroscopy, or examinations of the head, trunk, or extremities under supervision of physician. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.79 | untouched |
| Operate or oversee operation of radiologic or magnetic imaging equipment to produce images of the body for diagnostic purposes. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Operate fluoroscope to aid physician to view and guide wire or catheter through blood vessels to area of interest. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.50 | untouched |
| Operate mobile x-ray equipment in operating room, emergency room, or at patient's bedside. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.38 | untouched |
| Assign duties to radiologic staff to maintain patient flows and achieve production goals. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.11 | untouched |
| Provide students or other technicians and technologists with suggestions of additional views, alternate positioning, or improved techniques to ensure the images produced are of the highest quality. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Assist with on-the-job training of new employees or students or provide input to supervisors regarding training performance. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Position patient on examining table and set up and adjust equipment to obtain optimum view of specific body area as requested by physician. | 3.3% | 5.0% | 91.7% | 4.71 | untouched |
| Prepare contrast material, radiopharmaceuticals, or anesthetic or antispasmodic drugs under the direction of a radiologist. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.76 | untouched |
| Set up examination rooms, ensuring that all necessary equipment is ready. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.45 | untouched |
| Provide assistance to physicians or other technologists in the performance of more complex procedures. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.37 | untouched |
| Transport patients to or from exam rooms. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Provide assistance in dressing or changing seriously ill or injured patients or patients with disabilities. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.00 | 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.