Last week’s SIIM 2026 conference demonstrated once again radiology’s ongoing evolution, from a discipline once known for big iron to one dominated by software. From radiology reporting to the evolving AI platform segment, below are the top seven trends from Pittsburgh.
- Reporting Stays Red Hot: Radiology reporting was the top theme from SIIM 2025, and the segment got even hotter with Microsoft’s decision to sunset its PowerScribe 360 radiology reporting software, which has drawn a host of new competitors into the segment. At SIIM 2026, a common theme was enterprise imaging companies adding reporting modules to their solutions.
- AI Adoption Moving Slowly But Surely: Adoption of radiology AI has been frustratingly slow, but it’s moving inexorably toward broader clinical use. At SIIM 2026, some 68% of the radiology-oriented papers focused on AI in some way, especially the new generation of foundation and vision language models that are enabling targeted AI algorithms to be developed more quickly than ever.
- AI Governance Gets Real: Growing adoption of AI algorithms is creating a new issue: How to manage all this new technology. AI governance therefore was a major issue at SIIM 2026 as healthcare providers debated the legal and ethical necessity to better manage AI adoption, deployment, and utilization.
- Other ‘Ologies Get into the Act: Radiology likes to think of SIIM as its own conference, but it also encompasses other ‘ologies that are moving into digital image management, like pathology and ophthalmology. At SIIM 2026, several imaging IT vendors showed integration with data from these disciplines, giving healthcare institutions a single source for their healthcare data management.
- The Rise of All-in-One Vendors: A growing number of imaging IT vendors are rolling out solutions that combine image viewer, worklist, and reporting into a single platform, simplifying purchasing, deployment, and maintenance for radiology customers. Many of these firms seem to be getting traction with potential buyers, indicating the all-in-one concept could be one whose time has come.
- Agentic AI Takes Shape: Agentic AI is a growing trend in radiology as algorithm developers build solutions to take on mundane tasks and free up radiologists to focus on their primary task: interpreting images. But the question is, will agentic AI work in the real world, or simply pile more technology on clinicians?
- What Next for AI Platforms? Bayer’s withdrawal from the AI platform market by pulling its support for Blackford in 2025 raised many questions about the platform model that persisted at SIIM 2026. AI platforms seem to be evolving to add additional services like AI monitoring and governance.
The Takeaway
SIIM may not be radiology’s largest show, but for those in the imaging IT space it may be the most valuable one outside of RSNA. SIIM 2026 proved that point, with the top trends from Pittsburgh illustrating the discipline’s direction at the midpoint of the radiology year. For our overview of the top trends at SIIM 2026, check out our YouTube channel or the Shows tab on our webpage.
