AlgoNomy is a project funded by the call Seed Funding Scheme promoted by Circle U.

This project is coordinated by the University of Pisa and involves the participation of King’s College London, the University of Belgrade, the University of Vienna, Université Paris Cité, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

It aims at tackling the emerging issue of “digital paternalism” in healthcare, an adaptation of medical paternalism, where healthcare decisions are primarily made by algorithms rather than jointly by patients and physicians. To this aim, we will bring together scholars from the fields of law, medicine, and computer science to investigate the impact of AI on the autonomy of patients and healthcare professionals, while also considering their potential liability implications.

AlgoNomy shall investigate how current AI medical applications fail to accommodate individual patient preferences and limit the physician’s ability to comprehend and influence treatment outcomes. Moreover, it will seek to identify strategies to mitigate these risks by leveraging the fruitful interplay among the disciplines involved.

To foster scientific exchanges, the project will launch an interdisciplinary call for papers, and organize a doctoral workshop focused on the project’s core themes. In addition, AlgoNomy shall actively engage in public discussions involving non academic stakeholders (business, organizations representatives of patients and healthcare professionals). The main research outcomes shall be presented within the Festival of Robotics in Pisa, a renowned initiative dedicated to the dissemination of AI and robotics advancements through interactive formats.