“The stakes are so high,” he said, “because this is a life and death issue.” The anatomy of every patient differs, as does the way a disease behaves in patients.

“I look at [the images from] CT scans and MRIs and then do surgery,” by controlling robotic arms, Parekh said. “If you want the robot to do the surgery itself, it will have to understand all of the imaging, how to read the CT scans and MRIs.” In addition, robots will need to learn how to perform keyhole, or laparoscopic, surgery that uses very small incisions.

The idea that AI will ever be infallible is hard to take seriously when no technology is ever perfect. Certainly, this autonomous technology is interesting from a research perspective, but the blowback from a botched surgery conducted by an autonomous robot would be monumental. Who do you punish when something goes wrong, who has their medical license revoked? Humans are not infallible either, but at least patients have the peace of mind of knowing they have gone through years of training and can be held accountable if something goes wrong. AI models are crude simulacrums of humans, behave sometimes unpredictably, and have no moral compass.

If doctors are tired and overworked—a reason researchers suggested why this technology could be valuable— perhaps the systemic problems causing a shortage should be addressed instead. It has been widely reported that the U.S. is experiencing an extreme shortage of doctors due to the increasing inaccessibility of the field. The country is on track to experience a shortage of 10,000 to 20,000 surgeons by 2036, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges.