Paging Doctor Robot: Medical Artificial Intelligence, Tort Liability, and Why Personhood May Be the Answer

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a part of everyday life. From our phones, to social media accounts, to online shopping, AI is present and enhances our daily experiences. One area where AI has a heavy (and an increasing) presence is the medical industry. Just as humans make mistakes, so does AI. However, when a human doctor makes a mistake, they can be sued for malpractice, but when AI makes a mistake, who is to be held responsible? Because tort law was designed with humans in mind, it may be hard to apply to medical AI, who’s “black box” algorithms make their thoughts and decisions hard to decipher. This note examines current American tort law and suggests that the current tort regime is inadequate when applied to medical AI. This note suggests adopting a framework similar to that proposed by the European Parliament in 2017, in which medical AI could be granted quasi personhood and insured directly, alleviating the burden of determining liability and allowing victims to seek redress right away

Regulome of cancer epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)

During metastasis, cancer cells employ autophagy to meet elevated energy demands, of which the adaptor protein 14-3-3γ may play a role in this autophagic mechanism. It is hypothesized that 14-3-3γ activity promotes autophagy and EMT, and inhibition of 14-3-3γ may lead to the prevention of metastasis by suppressing EMT genes or starving the cancer cells of nutrients through autophagy suppression. To elucidate any differentially expressed genes (DEGs) after EMT induction that are involved in autophagy and may potentially be 14-3-3 protein targets, RNA-Seq was carried out and a pipeline was established to determine the differences in expression of the genes regulated directly or indirectly through 14-3-3γ interaction with transcription factors or repressors. A number of genes that are known to play various roles in autophagy were found to be differentially expressed after treatment with DMOG and TGFβ, which suggests a correlation between autophagy and metastasis. These genes are predicted to interact with 14-3-3 proteins, which suggests 14-3-3γ may have a significant role in regulating autophagy and metastasis, thereby contributing to cancer progression.Bachelor of Science in Biological Science

Paging Doctor Robot: Medical Artificial Intelligence, Tort Liability, and Why Personhood May Be the Answer

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a part of everyday life. From our phones, to social media accounts, to online shopping, AI is present and enhances our daily experiences. One area where AI has a heavy (and an increasing) presence is the medical industry. Just as humans make mistakes, so does AI. However, when a human doctor makes a mistake, they can be sued for malpractice, but when AI makes a mistake, who is to be held responsible? Because tort law was designed with humans in mind, it may be hard to apply to medical AI, who’s “black box” algorithms make their thoughts and decisions hard to decipher. This note examines current American tort law and suggests that the current tort regime is inadequate when applied to medical AI. This note suggests adopting a framework similar to that proposed by the European Parliament in 2017, in which medical AI could be granted quasi personhood and insured directly, alleviating the burden of determining liability and allowing victims to seek redress right away

GAZING AT HOME FROM THE BEACH: A PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF DISRUPTION AND RELOCATION IN THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS, 1970S TO 1990S

Bachelor'sBACHELOR OF ARTS (HONOURS