A method for generating an image of a subject with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system is presented. The method includes first performing a localizer scan of the subject to acquire localizer scan data. A machine learning (ML) module is then used to detect the presence of metal regions in the localizer scan data based on magnitude and phase information of the localizer scan data. Based on the detected metal regions in the localizer scan data, the MRI workflow is adjusted for diagnostic scan of the subject. The image of the subject is then generated using the adjusted workflow.