RSNA 2025: Snowstorms, Puppies and the Future of Radiology

If you made it to RSNA this year, despite Mother Nature’s best intentions, then you already know the week had a very particular energy. Even the weather couldn’t slow down nearly 40,000 people determined to pack as much education, conversation, caffeine and questionable convention center food into five days as possible.

Rather than recap what you already lived (and are maybe still recovering from), here’s what stood out to us – the themes we heard in conversations, saw in packed rooms and felt as the industry continued shifting toward a more connected, intelligent and human-centered future.

RSNA 2025 By the Numbers 

• 2.6M sq ft of conference space at McCormick Place
• 415,000 sq ft of exhibition space
• 122,687 steps logged by one Rad AI product marketing manager who swears the building adds square footage overnight
• 37,500 attendees 
• 1,400 cancelled flights to Chicago
• 860+ papers, 1,900+ posters, and 1,400+ education exhibits 
• 700+ technical exhibitors and 100+ AI vendors 
• 458 organizations who met with us
• $400 lost, found and returned within minutes
• 111th year of the annual meeting
• 50 gallons of coffee dispensed at the Rad AI booth
• 46 Beatles-themed digital photobooth photos from our “Come Together” event
• 8.7 inches of snow (Nov. 29 - Dec. 1)
• 4 therapy dogs who were arguably the best workload-relief solution showcased
• 0 chargers available when you actually needed one

Five Topics That Had People Talking

The larger story unfolding this year was one that moved past stand-alone tools toward integrated, intelligent AI ecosystems that support radiologists from acquisition through follow-up care. These weren’t just concepts on slides – they were demos happening in real time across the exhibit hall and podium presentations. 

Generative and Multimodal AI Optimism

RSNA 2025 made it clear that radiology is moving beyond narrow algorithms toward flexible, multimodal AI. Sessions highlighted large language models (LLMs), vision-language models and image-text systems built to streamline drafting, summarization and reporting workflows. New research showed radiology-tuned “agentic” models outperforming basic retrieval systems for complex clinical questions, while broader reviews point to generative AI reshaping tasks from reconstruction to segmentation.

Workflow Orchestration and Infrastructure Move to the Forefront

This year’s meeting underscored that AI’s impact depends on the systems underneath it. Vendors showcased cloud-native imaging platforms and end-to-end informatics suites designed to integrate acquisition, interpretation and operations – shifting the focus from standalone tools to full workflow support. The emphasis was that AI only delivers value only when woven directly into daily workflows and analysts predicted that scalable IT infrastructure would be a defining trend of 2025 and beyond. 

Radiology’s Expanding Role in Precision Medicine

“Imaging the Individual” and precision medicine were also central themes, underscoring radiology’s growing role in personalized diagnostics and predictive care. Advances in AI-driven risk modeling, opportunistic screening and imaging biomarkers signal a shift from reactive diagnosis to proactive, data-driven decision support. Industry analyses reinforce that imaging plus AI is increasingly foundational to individualized treatment pathways and population-level risk assessment.

Workforce Innovation and Provider Well-Being

With rising volumes and ongoing staffing pressures, tools that automate routine tasks and reduce reporting friction were seen as essential to improving efficiency and reducing burnout. That showed up clearly at the Rad AI booth, where there was strong interest in our RSNA Ventures partnership and what it could mean for future workflow support. Many attendees saw demos of how RSNA’s peer-reviewed expertise surfaces directly within their reporting environment, helping to reduce friction and bring trusted guidance into the moment of interpretation.

What RSNA 2025 Showed About Radiology’s Future

By the end of the meeting, it became clear that radiology is inching closer to the future the industry has been talking about for years, not the flashy version, but the functional one where tools actually help, workflows actually connect and radiologists get time back. It felt less like a preview of the future and more like the start of it.

Missed a chance to connect with us in person at RSNA? We’re always available for virtual meetings.