Radiologists

Low Risk
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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
4.8/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

34% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
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Social perceptiveness

Very important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Show 4 more strengths

Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Consulting and advising others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide guidance and expert advice to managers or teams on technical, system, or process decisions—explaining options, tradeoffs, and recommended actions.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 273 votes

51% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 34% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Radiologists will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In Unknown, the mean annual wage for Radiologists was Unknown (Unknown per hour).

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Radiologists' job openings is expected to rise 2.7% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 26,290 people employed as 'Radiologists' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 5 thousand people are employed as 'Radiologists'.

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What people are saying (7)

Leave a comment
R (Low)
10 Feb 2022 08:49
Taking into consideration that diagnosis can be contextual, I don't think it can be easily automated.
aj (Low)
11 Nov 2025 19:32
Alike all other doctorate jobs, a level of humanity is needed that AIs simply do not have. They sure as hell will be integrated, though
Rad
20 May 2025 22:12
Yeah also there’s also Jevons paradox here. We are hiring a lot of inexperienced PAs and NPs to run our medical care. These people view CTs, MRIs, US, mammography as a vital sign. Radiologist need AI and AI needs radiologist to get better. We keep seeing more and more imaging studies it’s honestly dumb. I wish it was a chill speciality but it’s not. Also our population is going to age and we aren’t replacing radiologists fast enough!
wolf
24 Jan 2023 21:20
Half of a radiologist's job is to diagnose; the other half is to convey the findings to the ordering physician and patient.

Being available to answer complex questions between humans is what will keep radiology safe from takeover.
OMAR (Low)
11 Jan 2024 03:20
Because it requires a high grade of visual skills and also contact with patients.
john (No chance)
07 Nov 2023 00:35
More to radiology than plain films, AI will make it better
Cody (Highly likely)
11 Mar 2024 07:48
AI will likely be able to interpret images faster and more accurately in 20 years.
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Job description

Diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasounds. May perform minimally invasive medical procedures and tests.

O*NET-SOC code: 29-1224.00