HAL will see you now

Machines that can learn and correct themselves already perform better than doctors at some tasks, but not all medicine is task based - but will AI doctors ever be able to have a therapeutic relationship with their patients? In this debate, Jörg Goldhahn, deputy head of the Institute for Translational Medicine at ETH Zurich thinks that the future belongs to robot doctors - but Vanessa Rampton, Branco Weiss fellow at McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy, says they'll never be able to emulate the empathy required. We're also joined by Michael Mittelman, executive director of the American Living Organ Donor Fund, who has had complex healthcare needs for his whole life - to explain what he feels about the prospect of his care delivered by machine. Read the full debate: https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4669