The Price of Autonomy: Liability Standards for Complementary and Substitutive Medical Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

When AI or robotics assist a professional, they are tools. In medicine, the doctrine of "competent human intervention" has shifted liability away from those who make devices and toward the professionals who use them. However, the professional in such scenarios should not bear the entire burden of responsibility. Tools can be defective, and vendors of defective, complementary AI and robotics should be held responsible for negligence. The burden of proof will still be on the plaintiff to demonstrate that not only a skilled medical professional, but also the maker of the tools used by such a professional, should be held liable for a preventable adverse outcome.