Rethinking Medical Ethics

AI promises to be a boon to medical practice, improving diagnoses, personalizing treatment, and spotting future public-health threats. By 2024, experts predict, healthcare AI will be a nearly $20 billion market, with tools that transcribe medical records, assist surgery, and investigate insurance claims for fraud. Even so, the technology raises some knotty ethical questions. What happens when an AI system makes the wrong decision--and who is responsible if it does? How can clinicians verify, or even understand, what comes out of an AI "black box"?