Job Check
Nuclear Medicine Technologists
Prepare, administer, and measure radioactive isotopes in therapeutic, diagnostic, and tracer studies using a variety of radioisotope equipment. Prepare stock solutions of radioactive materials and calculate doses to be administered by radiologists. Subject patients to radiation. Execute blood volume, red cell survival, and fat absorption studies following standard laboratory techniques.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Administer radiopharmaceuticals or radiation intravenously to detect or treat diseases, using radioisotope equipment, under direction of a physician.Mostly human for now
- 02Detect and map radiopharmaceuticals in patients' bodies, using a camera to produce photographic or computer images.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Process cardiac function studies, using computer.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 04Calculate, measure, and record radiation dosage or radiopharmaceuticals received, used, and disposed, using computer and following physician's prescription.AI could speed this up a lot
- 05Record and process results of procedures.People already use AI for this at work
- 06Produce a computer-generated or film image for interpretation by a physician.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 07Prepare stock radiopharmaceuticals, adhering to safety standards that minimize radiation exposure to workers and patients.Mostly human for now
- 08Explain test procedures and safety precautions to patients and provide them with assistance during test procedures.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Perform quality control checks on laboratory equipment or cameras.Mostly human for now
- 10Dispose of radioactive materials and store radiopharmaceuticals, following radiation safety procedures.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job loss5%of this job’s work time goes to tasks that people already do with Claude at work, counting tasks where AI only helps as half (2026).Anthropic, 2026
29%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 25% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 76% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Administer radiopharmaceuticals or radiation intravenously to detect or treat diseases, using radioisotope equipment, under direction of a physician.
- Prepare stock radiopharmaceuticals, adhering to safety standards that minimize radiation exposure to workers and patients.
- Perform quality control checks on laboratory equipment or cameras.