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3 . 2021

Bioethical challenges of artificial intelligence in surgery

Abstract

Bioethical challenges (benefits and risks) of the systemic transformation of medical, including surgical, activities due to the wide penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) systems into medical practice are discussed. The significance of bioethical technologies for the transformation of biomedical discoveries and inventions into socially acceptable and marketable innovations is noted. Three modes of incorporation of medical AI systems into the structures of physician-patient relationships are distinguished. In the first mode, AI acts as a tool to improve activities of the surgeon's hands and senses. In the second mode, AI plays а role of an assistant or consultant to the operating surgeon. The third, still hypothetical, mode is characterized by the transformation of a surgical robot into an operating surgeon (an autonomous healing subject). Bioethical challenges (benefits and risks) associated with each of the regimes are discussed. The principle of autonomy in two forms, decisional autonomy and executive autonomy, emerged as the central category of bioethical analysis. It is concluded that an interdisciplinary discussion of the challenges of AI in medicine, involving the social sciences and society, is necessary, with bioethics playing the role of moderator.

Keywords:artificial intelligence, autonomy, decisional autonomy, executive autonomy, bioethics, bioethical challenges, doctor-patient relationship, innovations, machine ethics, surgical robots

Funding. The article was prepared with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 19-011-00064. 
Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
For citation: Grebenshchikova E.G., Tishchenko P.D. Bioethical challenges of artificial intelligence in surgery. Clinical and Experimental Surgery. Petrovsky Journal. 2021; 9 (3): 7-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33029/2308-1198-2021-9-3-7-15 (in Russian)

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CHIEF EDITOR
CHIEF EDITOR
Sergey L. Dzemeshkevich
MD, Professor (Moscow, Russia)

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