Overview
We were honored to have I. Glenn Cohen of Harvard Law School as the featured speaker for our May webinar to take us on a deep dive into the legal and ethical landscape surrounding AI in medicine. He walked us through the full arc of AI model development with a consistent eye toward equity, including who actually benefits from these tools and what obligations developers and institutions carry at each stage. His overarching message on this topic was a call for ethics by design rather than as an afterthought. As he put it: “It's very common for ethics to come fairly late in design and decision-making. ... At the end of the cycle, there’s much less we can do, fewer degrees of freedom.”
Professor Cohen also covered the liability landscape, examining who bears legal responsibility when AI-assisted diagnosis goes wrong. He noted that, at least for now, the field may be over-indexing on liability as a concern.
This session covered much more ground, providing a rare and timely opportunity to explore the clinical and legal dimensions of AI in medicine examined together. Click the button above to view the event recording (password: UC$Fcodex).
Event Recording
Password: UC$Fcodex
Dive Deeper
Professor Cohen's May Webinar Presentation Deck
Understanding Liability Risk from Using Health Care Artificial Intelligence Tools
Mello MM, Guha N. Understanding liability risk from using health care artificial intelligence tools. N. Engl. J. Med., 390 (2024), pp. 271-278
Potential Liability for Physicians Using Artificial Intelligence
Price WN, Gerke S, Cohen IG. Potential Liability for Physicians Using Artificial Intelligence. JAMA. 2019;322(18):1765–1766. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.15064
Locating Liability for Medical AI
Price II, William Nicholson and Cohen, I. Glenn, Locating Liability for Medical AI (July 21, 2023). DePaul Law Review, Forthcoming, U of Michigan Public Law Research Paper No. 23-037, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4517740 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4517740
AI as a Mental Health Therapist for Adolescents
Opel DJ, Kious BM, Cohen IG. AI as a Mental Health Therapist for Adolescents. JAMA Pediatr. 2023;177(12):1253–1254. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.4215
Disclosure, Humanizing, and Contextual Vulnerability of Generative AI Chatbots
De Freitas J, Cohen IG. 2025. Disclosure, humanizing, and contextual vulnerability of generative AI chatbots. Nejm AI. 2(2):AIpc2400464. https://doi.org/10.1056/AIpc2400464
Software as a Medical Practitioner—Is It Time to License Artificial Intelligence?
Bressman E, Shachar C, Stern AD, Mehrotra A. Software as a Medical Practitioner—Is It Time to License Artificial Intelligence? JAMA Intern Med. 2026;186(1):5–6. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.6132
Mitigating Suicide Risk for Minors Involving AI Chatbots—A First in the Nation Law
Cohen IG, De Freitas J. Mitigating Suicide Risk for Minors Involving AI Chatbots—A First in the Nation Law. JAMA. 2026;335(4):301–302. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.23744
Medical AI and Clinician Surveillance — The Risk of Becoming Quantified Workers
Cohen IG, Ajunwa I, Parikh RB (2025) Medical AI and clinician surveillance - the risk of becoming quantified workers. N Engl J Med 392:2289–2291. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2502448
Date
Tuesday, May 5, 2026Time
Organizers
Speakers
I. Glenn Cohen
Deputy Dean and James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics
Professor Cohen is one of the world’s leading experts on the intersection of bioethics (sometimes also called “medical ethics”) and the law as well as health law. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He is the author of more than 300 articles and book chapters and his award-winning work has appeared in leading legal, medical, scientific, bioethics, and public health journals. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than 20 books. He has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on genetic privacy, spoken to NATO on biotechnology and human enhancement, addressed the OECD and members of the US and the Korean Congress on medical AI policy, and advised then-U.S. Vice President Harris on reproductive rights. He has provided bioethical advising and consulting to some of the largest healthcare companies in the world including Bayer, Otsuka, and Illumina.
Photo credit: Niles Singer/Harvard University
Sumant Ranji, MD
Director, UCSF CODEX
Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG)
Dr. Ranji is a renowned leader in patient safety, quality improvement, and medical education. He first joined UCSF as a fellow in hospital medicine and clinical research, then went on to become a faculty member in the Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health, where he held multiple leadership positions. As director of CODEX, Dr. Ranji leads the center’s strategic planning and the execution of its work to champion diagnostic excellence research and build awareness of and engagement within the field.
Learn more about Sumant here.