ABSTRACT
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful technology that can assist physicians with the practice of medicine. Use of the technology has grown in recent years and has powerful potential. Medical AI typically functions as a type of ‘machine-learning’ that relies on deep neural networks to sift through vast amounts of data to give recommendations or draw conclusions for clinicians. This Article begins by outlining key characteristics of medical AI (eg, AI’s opacity and ‘black-box’, and how and with what data the AI was developed) that make assessment of liability under traditional tort paradigms (like negligence) difficult. This Article then highlights several tort paradigms (eg, medical malpractice, products liability, vicarious liability, and informed consent) and how they might function in the context of medical AI. In conclusion, this Article offers an analysis of how tort law may evolve in the future in response to the challenges created by medical AI today (eg, legal evolutions that may take the form of new solutions like AI personhood, common enterprise liability, and a new standard of care).
Scott J Schweikart, Who Will Be Liable for Medical Malpractice in the Future? How the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Will Shape Medical Tort Law, 22 Minnesota Journal of Law, Science and Technology 1 (2021).
First posted 2021-03-20 20:45:24
Leave a Reply