Some ethical and legal consequences of the application of artificial intelligence in the field of medicine

Artificial Intelligence platforms are driven by sophisticated algorithms which have been incorporated into A.I. robots.These algorithms are also programmed to be self-teaching.This technology has resulted in producing a 'super intelligent' robot, the current best example of which is IBM's Watson.Watson is being increasingly applied to perform a variety of tasks in the medical field, tasks which had formerly been the exclusive preserve of doctors.A.I. is replacing doctors in fields such as interpreting X-rays and scans, performing diagnoses of patients' symptoms, in what can be described as a 'consulting physician' basis.A.I. is also being used in psychology where robots are programmed to speak to patients and counsel them.Robots have also been designed to perform sensitive surgical techniques.One is therefore able to confidently predict that the role of robots in medicine is going to increase exponentially in the future.Because medicine is not an exact science it is possible that Watson, to use one example of an existing robot, can make errors which result in injury to patients.The injured patient should then be entitled to sue for damages, as they would have been able to do if the injury had been caused by a real doctor.However, the problem which arises in this regard is that the law of torts has developed to regulate the actions of natural persons.Watson, and similar A.I. platforms, are not natural persons.This means that a patient seeking redress cannot rely on existing law relating to medical negligence or malpractice to recover damages.It is therefore imperative that appropriate legislation is passed to bridge this gap and allow the apportionment of damages to a patient which have resulted from the actions of an A.I. robot.