Electronic personhood: a tertium genus for smart autonomous surgical robots?

Minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgery has increased in the last few years. In fact there is one specific surgical robot that has had a predominant position in this field, kind of a “monopoly”: the da Vinci, a master-slave system manufactured by Intuitive Surgical. Its practical application raises liability issues for hospitals using it.   The increase…

Algorithmic Opacity as a Challenge to the Rights of the Defense

Algorithms are increasingly used in criminal proceedings for evidentiary purposes and for supporting decision-making. In a worrying trend, these tools are still concealed in secrecy and opacity preventing the possibility to understand how their specific output has been generated. Does opacity represent a threat to fair trial rights? Exploring the case of Exodus, a malware used for…