Intelligenze artificiali nell'assistenza sanitaria: una prospettiva legale

The topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been particularly discussed from the start of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020. This is because the application of AI on the overall healthcare system could be an optimum start point for avoiding the spread of dangerous diseases, viruses and plagues. Although the idea of applying AI in hospitals around the world have been a hot and important topic of debate in the last decade, the last three years of pandemics have doubtlessly accelerated the process of use. The interaction with robots instead of humans, and the application of technological devices for faster diagnosis has been a game changer in the healthcare systems of the majority of Western countries. With the income of new technologies which will eventually, and already are, make medical care more functional, efficient and, eventually, cheaper for the people, it must be remembered that nothing comes with positive income only. There are many issues that arise from the application of AI in the everyday practice, such as the problem of responsibility, the absence of emotional and empathic support and the field of data protection and insecurities about the safety of the used networks. These issues are just the tip of a huge iceberg of possible cons that AIs could bring in the healthcare world, and legal systems had many problems on trying to legalize a concept that is theoretically and practically far away from human nature. As a matter of fact, even though technologies are in our everyday life from 20 years until now, AI applied on such a sensible topic, our own health, can be problematic. AI touches many fields of medical care, going from the outsourcing robots with nursing care systems, robotic surgical operations, laboratory results and informed consent and autonomy. The real question is: how is it going to be legally regulated and how is it already?