The digital scalpel: navigating the future of surgical innovation

Artificial intelligence is entering surgical practice not as an extension of the surgeon's hand, eyes, or dexterity, but of surgical judgment itself. This creates a growing informational asymmetry between well-resourced and under-resourced operative environments, with implications for training, competence, accountability, and equity.

This commentary, derived from the Karl Storz Lecture delivered at the SAGES 2026 Annual Meeting, proposes the Digital Scalpel: a five-layer conceptual architecture (data infrastructure, connected systems, computational vision, cognitive augmentation, and human judgment) for understanding AI-enabled surgical practice. The current evidence base for each layer is appraised, with particular reference to AI assessment of the Critical View of Safety in laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Computational vision is the most mature layer, with deep-learning systems demonstrating high concordance with expert assessment of the Critical View of Safety, though validation remains largely confined to elective, uninflamed, single-centre cases. Three risks are identified: automation complacency, an unresolved accountability gap, and a digital inverse care law under which AI-augmented capability tracks existing resource inequities. The most evidence-supported entry point for most institutions is routine operative video capture and structured review, not real-time guidance.

The surgeon of 2035 will require four attributes: preserved technical excellence, data literacy as a core competency, ethical fluency, and institutionalised clinician-engineer collaboration. The Digital Scalpel demands active, critical, and equitable engagement rather than passive technological adoption.