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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3211

Medical imaging and therapeutic equipment technicians

Medical imaging and therapeutic equipment technicians test and operate radiographic, ultrasound and other medical imaging equipment to produce images of body structures for the diagnosis and treatment of injury, disease and other impairments. They may administer radiation treatments to patients under the supervision of a radiologist or other health professional. Tasks include - (a) operating or overseeing operation of radiologic, ultrasound and magnetic imaging equipment to produce images of the body for diagnostic purposes; (b) explaining procedures, observing and positioning patients, and using protection devices to ensure safety and comfort during examination, scan or treatment; (c) positioning imaging or treatment equipment, monitoring video displays, and adjusting settings and controls according to technical specifications; (d) reviewing and evaluating developed X-rays, videotape, or computer-generated information to determine if images are satisfactory for diagnostic purposes, and recording results of procedures; (e) monitoring patients’ conditions and reactions, reporting abnormal signs to a medical practitioner; (f) measuring and recording radiation dosage or radiopharmaceuticals received and used for patients, following prescriptions issued by a medical practitioner; (g) administering, detecting and mapping radiopharmaceuticals or radiation in patients’ bodies, using radioisotope, camera or other equipment for diagnosing and treating diseases; (h) recording and disposing of radioactive materials and storing radiopharmaceuticals, following radiation safety procedures. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Diagnostic medical radiographer - Magnetic resonance imaging technologist - Mammographer - Medical radiation therapist - Nuclear medicine technologist - Radiographer - Sonographer Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Medical physicist - 2111 - Radiologist - 2212 - Radiation protection expert - 2263 - Medical imaging assistant - 5329

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 168 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • clinical perfusion scientist

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

78
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 22 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 22 = 78

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

61.3
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 5 US jobs

39.4
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 43.2 · hand skill 41.5 · cramped spaces 33.7 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · caring 4+ of 7 Hands-on, helping and caring for others

Physical work where helping and caring for people is a big part of the job. For care work, whether a machine could do the movements is only half the question. The other half is whether anyone wants one to. The US data counts helping workmates too, so a few trades end up here.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 61.3 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 26.5, while the average is 22. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 26.5

    Operating or overseeing operation of radiologic, ultrasound and magnetic imaging equipment to produce images of the body for diagnostic purposes

    Low
  2. 23.5

    Reviewing and evaluating developed x-rays, video tape or computer generated information to determine if images are satisfactory for diagnostic purposes, and recording results of procedures

    Very Low
  3. 23

    Recording and disposing of radioactive materials and storing radiopharmaceuticals, following radiation safety procedures.

    Very Low
  4. 22.3

    Position imaging or treatment equipment, monitoring video displays, and adjusting settings and controls according to technical specifications

    Very Low
  5. 22.3

    Measuring and recording radiation dosage or radiopharmaceuticals received and used for patients, following prescription issued by a medical practitioner

    Very Low
  6. 22

    Monitoring patients' conditions and reactions, and reporting abnormal signs to a medical practitioner

    Very Low
  7. 20

    Administering, detecting and mapping radiopharmaceuticals or radiation in patients' bodies, using radioisotope, camera or other equipment for diagnosing and treating diseases

    Very Low
  8. 16.5

    Explaining procedures, observing and positioning patients, and using protection devices to ensure safety and comfort during examination, scan or treatment

    Very Low

8 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
65
AI does it for you
29.5

Helping wins by 35.5 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2512, 3112

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.2. This one is above that.