Artificial intelligence as a challenge for the law: the example of “Doctor Algorithm”

Society increasingly relies on algorithms to improve decisions with the aid of artificial intelligence. This is particularly true in the field of medicine where, based on algorithms, ever increasing volumes of data are to be analysed and provide the basis for tailored medical treatment. This leads to the question of how the law should react to the adoption of such algorithm-based decisions. Will new regulatory approaches be required if algorithms are employed for treatment decisions, or can one resort to the basic principles applied to determine the standard of medical treatment? Who will be liable if the use of algorithms leads to malpractice, in particular if it is the programming of the algorithms that has caused the fault?