‘Can AI Do My Job?’ Is the Wrong Question
The question of whether AI can do a person's job is not a straightforward one, as evidenced by the example of radiologists, whose demand has increased despite the approval of over 1,000 AI radiology tools. To determine how endangered a job is, it's helpful to consider whether the job is a weak or strong bundle of tasks, with clean tasks being easier for AI to handle and messy tasks being more challenging. By understanding the composition of a job, individuals can better assess the potential impact of AI on their profession and the economy as a whole.
- ▪The number of radiologists has risen by 17 percent since 2016, despite the increasing use of AI in radiology.
- ▪The FDA has approved over 1,000 AI radiology tools, some of which can analyze medical images with greater accuracy than human specialists.
- ▪Jobs can be classified as strong or weak bundles, with strong bundles being less susceptible to AI replacement due to the tight link between clean and messy tasks.
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Economy‘Can AI Do My Job?’ Is the Wrong QuestionHere are three better ones to ask.By Rogé KarmaIllustration by Alisa Gao / The Atlantic. Source: Thibault Renard / Getty.June 11, 2026, 12 PM ET ShareSave In 2016, the AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton declared that “people should stop training radiologists now” because “it’s just completely obvious that within five years, deep learning is going to do better than radiologists.” He was half right. Today, the FDA has approved more than 1,000 AI radiology tools, some capable of analyzing medical images to detect injuries or diseases with greater accuracy than human specialists. Yet radiologists—human ones—are in more demand than ever.
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