Will AI replace Radiologic Technologists and Technicians?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
29/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 45% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 3% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 48% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(1)
- Take thorough and accurate patient medical histories.
Within reach(14)
- Explain procedures and observe patients to ensure safety and comfort during scan.
- Record, process, and maintain patient data or treatment records and prepare reports.
- Review and evaluate developed x-rays, video tape, or computer-generated information to determine if images are satisfactory for diagnostic purposes.
- Use radiation safety measures and protection devices to comply with government regulations and to ensure safety of patients and staff.
- Operate or oversee operation of radiologic or magnetic imaging equipment to produce images of the body for diagnostic purposes.
and 9 more
Out of reach(15)
- Prepare contrast material, radiopharmaceuticals, or anesthetic or antispasmodic drugs under the direction of a radiologist.
- Complete quality control activities, monitor equipment operation, and report malfunctioning equipment to supervisor.
- Position patient on examining table and set up and adjust equipment to obtain optimum view of specific body area as requested by physician.
- Process exposed radiographs using film processors or computer generated methods.
- Set up examination rooms, ensuring that all necessary equipment is ready.
and 10 more
Also called
Radiologic Technician (RAD Tech) · RT (Radiologic Technologist) · RAD Tech · RT · CT Tech (Computed Tomography Technologist) · Multimodality Technologist · Registered Radiologic Technologist (RT (R)) · X-Ray Tech (X-Ray Technician)
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics