What this occupation does
Radiologists diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques. The role spans interpreting radiographs, CT, MRI, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine studies, performing image-guided procedures, and consulting with referring physicians on diagnostic strategy.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places radiologists in the moderate exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places radiologists in the moderate exposure gradient. Image-pattern recognition is technically feasible for AI at task level, but the role's diagnostic synthesis, procedural work, and clinical responsibility components remain heavily human-led.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 2212 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Changing: Interpret medical images using radiographic, fluoroscopic, sonographic, magnetic resonance, or computed tomography techniques. AI image-pattern detection is increasingly capable; final interpretation remains physician-led for clinical and liability reasons.
- Growing: Recommend additional imaging or laboratory studies, biopsies, or other procedures to confirm diagnosis. Diagnostic-strategy recommendation is augmentation-prone and grows in importance as AI surfaces more candidate findings.
- Growing: Confer with medical professionals regarding image-based diagnoses, treatment plans, and patient information. Cross-clinician consultation is high-context, high-judgement work that grows with imaging volume.
- Growing: Communicate examination results or diagnostic information to referring physicians, patients, or families. Communication of diagnostic findings to clinicians and patients involves judgement and accountability that remain human.
- Growing: Perform or interpret the outcomes of procedures or examinations such as image-guided biopsies, drainages, or therapeutic interventions. Image-guided procedural work is physical and contextually constrained; AI-augmented but not displaceable at task level.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034 outlook for radiologists is faster than average (+4% projected change, +1k jobs). Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: AI and big data, Technological literacy, Empathy and active listening. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 classifies radiology pattern-recognition tasks as exposed at the technical layer; clinical synthesis and procedural work are augmentation-prone rather than displaceable.
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Healthcare industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2024-2034 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.