Defining AI liability: How AI could transform malpractice law

David Simon, J.D., Ph.D., L.L.M., associate professor of law at Northeastern University, discusses how the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine could reshape malpractice law — and what physicians should do now to protect themselves.

Simon predicts a gradual rise in litigation as courts grapple with the first AI-related negligence cases. “People are probably going to get hurt as a result,” he says, noting that state-by-state rulings will eventually “bubble up” into new national standards.

He also raises a new concern: physician de-skilling. As clinicians rely more heavily on AI, they risk losing core competencies — a dynamic that could create new forms of liability if errors occur outside an algorithm’s validated use. His advice for physicians and health systems: “Ask the manufacturer questions. How was it validated? What protections are in place? Don’t assume you can just transplant it to another use.”