AI and Expert Medical Evidence

Courts and legal processes are being challenged by the increasing utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. At the same time practitioners in many disciplines involved in providing expert evidence are increasingly using artificial intelligence tools in their investigations, examinations and analysis. These technologies, while increasingly of value in analytical techniques including interpretation and diagnostics, raise significant challenges for the legal system charged with evaluating, reviewing and testing expert opinion evidence. At a simple level, is it possible to distinguish between the evidence of an expert that is based purely on their knowledge and expertise and evidence they may give which is based to a variable degree on an analysis undertaken by an artificial intelligence-like expert system? This challenge is not new; medical practitioners have used information technology systems to enhance diagnostic and therapeutic processes for decades, yet these have rarely been subject to detailed challenge in court. With the rise in AI applications this may well change, especially in some of the areas where AI systems seem to offer increased diagnostic accuracy to that of medical experts.