Mostly Resilient
Last Update: 8/30/2026
AI Resilience Score for Radiation Therapists:
54.3%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
Med
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Low
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
High
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
Limited data sources are available, or existing sources show notable disagreement on the outlook for this occupation.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forRadiation Therapists
$105,310 median salary•700 annual openings•SOC Code: 29-1124.00
Radiation Therapists are somewhat more resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 6 sources.
Radiation therapy is labeled "Mostly Resilient" because AI is stepping in to handle the more routine parts of the job (like drafting tumor outlines, calculating doses, and flagging unusual images) while the most important work, including reassuring scared patients, catching errors, and coordinating with doctors and physicists, stays firmly in human hands. Think of AI as a very capable assistant that speeds things up and reduces mistakes, but one that always needs a trained therapist to review and approve every decision before treatment begins.
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Radiation therapy is labeled "Mostly Resilient" because AI is stepping in to handle the more routine parts of the job (like drafting tumor outlines, calculating doses, and flagging unusual images) while the most important work, including reassuring scared patients, catching errors, and coordinating with doctors and physicists, stays firmly in human hands. Think of AI as a very capable assistant that speeds things up and reduces mistakes, but one that always needs a trained therapist to review and approve every decision before treatment begins.
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Radiation Therapists
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Radiation Therapists jobs?
Right now, AI in radiation therapy is mostly augmenting therapists rather than replacing them. According to a Spring 2026 feature in ASTROnews, if you practice radiation oncology in 2026, you are almost certainly using AI, whether or not you label it that way, and over the past 10+ years more than one thousand AI-enabled medical devices have been approved by the FDA, with around 70 directly related to radiation oncology—most for auto-segmentation. In practice, this means AI drafts the contours of tumors and healthy organs, suggests planning parameters, and flags images that look "off," while therapists and physicians review and approve every step.
A 2026 OncoDaily review [1] explains that deep-learning contouring tools "significantly reduce contouring time while improving standardization," but clinician review remains essential. A multicenter Nature Communications study [2] showed AI could generate deliverable treatment plans in under five minutes, with over 80% meeting clinical criteria—yet humans still made the final call. The more routine tasks in the job description (scheduling, dose records, dosage calculations) are exactly where AI shines, while ASTRO notes that expertise, judgment, communication with patients, and multidisciplinary coordination remain firmly human work [3].
Sources
How fast is AI adoption growing for Radiation Therapists?
Adoption is moving quickly but carefully. On the "fast" side, Deloitte's June 2026 healthcare survey [4] found that long-standing AI barriers like talent shortages, leadership buy-in, and data quality are easing, pushing agentic AI "beyond experimentation." Staffing pressure also drives adoption: Imaging Technology News reported [5] an 11.4% radiation therapist vacancy rate in the 2026 ASRT survey, so clinics welcome tools that ease workloads. On the "slow" side, safety and ethics matter enormously—ASTRO warns that careless AI use could "amplify automation bias, deskill teams, and create failure modes that are harder to detect," which is why an ASTRO AI Task Force is writing responsibility standards [3].
The good news for young people considering this field: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics still projects employment growth of about 3% from 2025 to 2035 [6], meaning your patient-facing, safety-focused skills—reassuring families, catching errors, coordinating with physicists—will remain in demand even as AI handles more of the paperwork.
Sources
Will AI replace Radiation Therapists?
No. We don't think AI will replace Radiation Therapists, though we do expect the job to change.
That view lines up with our 54.3% AI Resilience Score. AI is already doing real work in this field, handling auto-segmentation of tumors, suggesting treatment planning parameters, and flagging unusual images. A multicenter study even showed AI generating deliverable treatment plans in under five minutes [2]. But right now, therapists review and approve every step. The routine and computational parts of the job are shifting to AI; the judgment, patient communication, and safety oversight are not.
What keeps this role human-centered is the stakes involved. ASTRO has flagged that careless AI use could amplify automation bias and create failure modes that are harder to catch [3], which is exactly why human oversight is not optional. An 11.4% vacancy rate in the field also means clinics are leaning on AI to ease workloads, not eliminate staff [5].
The honest caveat is that long-term employer demand looks modest, so this is not a field with explosive hiring ahead. The economic picture is stronger, with solid wages and some room to adapt. If you go into this field, plan to grow alongside the technology, not around it.
Sources
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More Career Info
Career: Radiation Therapists
They help treat cancer by using special machines to aim radiation at tumors, working closely with doctors to ensure patients receive safe and effective care.
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Employment & Wage Data
Median Wage
$105,310
Jobs (2025)
17,400
Growth (2025-35)
+2.8%
Annual Openings
700
Education
Associate's degree
Experience
None
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025-2035
Task-Level AI Resilience Scores
AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years
1
Act as liaison with physicist and supportive care personnel.
2
Educate, prepare, and reassure patients and their families by answering questions, providing physical assistance, and reinforcing physicians' advice regarding treatment reactions or post-treatment car...
3
Observe and reassure patients during treatment and report unusual reactions to physician or turn equipment off if unexpected adverse reactions occur.
4
Train or supervise student or subordinate radiotherapy technologists.
5
Conduct most treatment sessions independently, in accordance with the long-term treatment plan and under the general direction of the patient's physician.
6
Store, sterilize, or prepare the special applicators containing the radioactive substance implanted by the physician.
7
Assist in the preparation of sealed radioactive materials, such as cobalt, radium, cesium, or isotopes, for use in radiation treatments.
Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.
