AI in Surgery: What It Does Today

A plain guide to what AI and robots do before, during and after a real operation today, and what to ask before you say yes.

The short version: If you have an operation in 2026, AI may touch it at three points: reading your scans and estimating your risk beforehand, helping the surgeon see better during the operation, and watching for problems afterward. The robot in the room is almost always controlled by a surgeon. Robot-assisted operations are common, with more than 3 million done on da Vinci systems in 2025, but studies often find results similar to standard keyhole surgery at a higher cost. No robot is approved to operate on a person by itself.

Not medical advice. This page explains how AI is being used in medicine; it can’t tell you what’s right for your health, so talk to your surgeon or doctor about your own care. Facts checked against the linked sources on October 29, 2026. How we research and check our guides.

Surgery and AI today

3.15M

Operations done with da Vinci robots worldwide in 2025, up 18% in a year

Intuitive annual report

15%

Share of common operations done robotically in Michigan hospitals by 2018, up from 2% in 2012

JAMA Network Open, 2020

40%

Of US adults would want an AI robot that operates on its own for their surgery; 59% would not

Pew Research Center, 2023

Table of Contents

What does AI do in surgery?

Mostly narrow, supporting jobs. It shows up at three stages:

Before

What AI does: Reads scans, builds 3D models, estimates risk
Who decides: Your surgeon

Most common use today.

During

What AI does: Steers the camera, warns when a tool leaves the camera’s view, checks tissue for leftover tumor (in research)
Who decides: Your surgeon, at the controls

The robot copies the surgeon’s hands.

After

What AI does: Watches for complications, writes up the operation
Who decides: Your care team

Results so far are mixed.

New to the topic? Our AI in Medicine hub covers how AI is used across medicine, including diagnosis and drug discovery.

How AI helps before your operation

Your CT or MRI scan is often where AI first comes into your care, because most FDA-cleared AI tools sit in radiology. Image: Sgt. 1st Class Adam Stone, U.S. Army (public domain).

Reading your scans. Radiology is where most of the FDA’s AI-enabled devices sit (FDA list). These tools flag things for the radiologist to check; a person still signs the report. Our guide to FDA clearance explains what “cleared” does and doesn’t mean.
Building a 3D model. Software can turn flat scan slices into a 3D model of your bones or organs so the surgeon can plan the route in advance. Axial3D, for example, got FDA clearance in 2023 for an AI tool that does this automatically (Axial3D), and brain-surgery planning software from Brainlab was cleared again in 2025 (FDA database).
Estimating your risk. Many surgeons use the American College of Surgeons’ risk calculator, built from more than 1.4 million patients (ScienceDaily, on the 2013 study). It was built with traditional statistics; ACS researchers have since tested a more accurate machine-learning version. Newer machine-learning calculators such as POTTER, built at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital for emergency surgery, scored slightly better in their own studies (Annals of Surgery, 2018).

What happens in the operating room?

In robot-assisted surgery the surgeon works from a console like this one at UC San Diego, and the robot copies every movement. Image: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, CC BY 4.0.

If your operation is “robotic,” a surgeon sits at a console a few feet away and controls the robot’s arms. The robot filters out hand tremor and lets the surgeon work through small cuts. About 3.15 million da Vinci operations were done worldwide in 2025, around 2 million of them in the US, mostly in general surgery, gynecology and urology (Intuitive annual report).

Newer robots and AI software are starting to add a few narrow helpers on top:

Spotting leftover tumor. In brain-tumor surgery, a research model called FastGlioma reads tissue samples in seconds; in one study it missed risky leftover tumor 3.8% of the time, against nearly 25% for standard methods (University of Michigan, on the Nature study). It is not yet a cleared product.
Steering the camera. Moon Surgical’s ScoPilot, cleared in 2025, makes the keyhole camera follow the surgeon’s instrument on request (Moon Surgical).
Overlaying the plan. Augmedics’ headset shows spine surgeons the planned screw path on top of the patient; the company says more than 12,000 patients have been treated (Augmedics).
Tracking tools off-screen. In July 2026, Medtronic said a feature that warns when an instrument moves out of the camera’s view got FDA clearance (Medtronic). Hypervision’s HYPERSNAP, cleared in 2025, adds AI analysis of special imaging during surgery (MedTech Innovator).
Feeling the tissue (not AI, but new). The da Vinci 5, cleared in 2024, lets the surgeon feel how hard the instruments press: in lab tests before use on patients, surgeons used up to 43% less force on tissue (Intuitive).

Some things you may read about are still research. We found no FDA-cleared AI that checks whether it is safe to cut during gallbladder surgery, for example, though several teams are testing one.

Is robot surgery better than regular surgery?

Not always. The best trials often find the results about the same:

In a trial of 471 people having rectal cancer surgery, the robot did not significantly cut the chance of having to switch to open surgery, and none of nine other outcomes differed, including complications (ROLARR, JAMA 2017).
A Cochrane review of 12 trials in gynecology found complication rates “might be similar” to standard keyhole surgery, operations could take longer, and robotic surgery is expensive (Cochrane, 2019).

That doesn’t mean the robot is a bad choice. For some operations and some surgeons it may be the best option. It means the surgeon’s experience usually matters more than the machine, which is why the questions below are worth asking.

How AI watches over your recovery

Early warning alerts. Hospitals use software to flag patients who may be getting sicker. These tools need checking: when the University of Michigan tested a widely used alert for sepsis (a dangerous reaction to infection), it missed 67% of sepsis cases while alerting on 18% of hospital stays (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2021).
Monitoring at home (no AI yet). In a Canadian trial of 905 patients sent home after surgery with a tablet and home devices for blood pressure, oxygen and temperature, nurses caught far more medication errors (29.7% of patients against 5.5%), though days spent at home were about the same (BMJ, 2021).
Writing up the operation. Video software can now mark the key steps of an operation and draft the surgeon’s report; in June 2026 Oracle said it would offer Theator’s version to its US hospital customers (Fierce Healthcare). Whether it improves outcomes hasn’t been shown yet.

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What are the risks?

Robots and AI tools can fail like any equipment. The FDA collects problem reports in a database called MAUDE, but warns that events are under-reported and not verified, so the numbers can’t show how often things go wrong (FDA). A study of reports from 2000 to 2013 found about 83 deaths or injuries reported per 100,000 robotic operations, in reports from a decade ago or more. Common malfunctions included broken or burnt instrument pieces falling into the patient and electrical sparking (PLOS ONE, 2016).

Recalls still happen. In May 2026 the FDA classed a recall of one type of da Vinci stapler cartridge as its most serious kind, after reports of bleeding, four serious injuries and one death (FDA). The FDA also says it has not authorized any surgical robot specifically for preventing or treating cancer. Robots are cleared as tools for doing operations, including cancer operations, but none has been shown on its own to improve cancer outcomes such as survival (FDA).

Questions to ask your surgeon

The FDA encourages patients to ask about the surgeon’s training and experience with the robot and about other options (FDA). Copy this list and take it to your appointment, for yourself or someone you care for:

Checklist: questions for your surgeon

Questions for my surgeon about robotic or AI-assisted surgery:

1. How many operations like mine have you done with the robot, and how many without it?
2. What are your results and complication rates for this operation?
3. Why do you recommend the robot for me instead of keyhole (laparoscopic) or open surgery?
4. How often do you need to switch to open surgery partway through, and what would that mean for my recovery?
5. Is any AI software being used on my scans, to estimate my risk, or to monitor me after surgery?
6. Who reviews what the software says before a decision is made about me?
7. Will the robot or any new tool change my cost, my recovery time or how long I stay in the hospital?
8. Is any robot or AI tool used in my care part of a research study?

After your appointment, you can ask ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to explain any answer you didn’t follow. Leave out your name and personal details, and don’t ask it to choose for you.

Will robots ever operate on their own?

Johns Hopkins’ STAR robot planned and placed stitches in pig intestine in 2022 once a person approved its plan. Image: Jiawei Ge, IMERSE lab, Johns Hopkins University, via NIBIB.

Not any time soon. Robots have done steps of operations on their own in animals and in lab tests, and in October 2026 an AI agent chose a treatment and injected it into a mouse’s brain (our report). Our explainer on autonomous surgery sets out how far each project has got and why no regulator has approved a robot to operate on a person by itself.

How do people feel about AI in surgery?

Most people are wary. In a Pew survey published in 2023, 40% of US adults said they would want an AI robot that could operate on its own for their own surgery, and 59% said they would not. People who had heard of these robots were split evenly (Pew Research Center). Surgeons are keener: in two global surveys, one held at a European surgical society’s meeting, about 80% said AI would improve surgery, though many said it must be clear who is responsible when something goes wrong (arXiv preprint, 2025).

Common questions

Is robotic surgery done by a robot?

No. In almost every case today a surgeon controls the robot from a console in the same room. The robot steadies the surgeon’s hands and turns large hand movements into smaller, finer ones.

Is robotic surgery safer?

Not always. Large trials often find similar results to standard keyhole surgery, with longer operations and higher costs. The surgeon’s experience with the robot matters a lot.

How is AI used before surgery?

Mostly to read scans, build 3D models for planning and estimate the risk of complications. A doctor checks the results before any decision.

Can I say no to the robot?

Usually, yes. Ask your surgeon what the alternatives are, such as keyhole or open surgery, and how the choice changes your risks, recovery and cost.

Where can I report a problem with a surgical robot?

In the US, through the FDA’s MedWatch program. The FDA’s page on robotic surgery explains how (FDA).

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