Regarding the titular question of whether AI will replace surgeons, Ritz offered a clear-cut ‘no’. Neither the technical requirements nor the ethical and legal framework – particularly the unresolved issue of accountability – would allow this to happen in the foreseeable future. Additionally, he pointed out an aspect often overlooked in the public debate: Many patients still misunderstand the concept of robot-assisted surgery, believing that the robot performs the operation independently. In reality, it is always the surgeon who performs the operation – the robot is a precise instrument under human control, not an autonomous agent. Addressing this misunderstanding is not merely a matter of providing information, but also of building trust in modern surgical procedures.
What AI can and should do is something else entirely: take over routine tasks, simplify documentation, prevent errors and support the surgeon in a way that allows them to focus entirely on their most important task – performing surgery. This, says Ritz, would be his most pressing wish for the near future. With this in mind, he sees AI not as a competitor but as a tool: one that can make surgery safer, more efficient and more adaptable – if used wisely.