Fourth Annual TechinLaw Symposium - AI Ethics in Medicine and Law

Fourth Annual TechInLaw Symposium - AI Ethics in Medicine and Law

Friday, January 8, 2027
Karen J. Williams Courtroom, USC Joseph F. Rice School of Law
Also Streaming via Zoom Webinar
Five SC CLE Credits Pending, Including Two for Ethics
3.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™

Central Question: How can medicine, law, and technology work together to advance innovation while protecting the people and communities those innovations are intended to serve?

Agenda

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. | Extended Registration

Purpose: Check-In

9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | Pre-Symposium Vendor Viewing and Networking Coffee

Purpose: Vendor Viewing and Networking Breakfast with Coffee

• Stickers on badge denoting AI interests for conversation icebreakers
  • Green – AI Regulation and Policy
  • Yellow – AI in Professional Practice
  • Pink – AI in Education and Research
  • Orange – AI in Society 

10:00 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. | Opening Remarks

• Purpose: Welcome attendees and introduce the symposium's theme and objectives.
• Goals:
  • Establish the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in responsible innovation.
  • Provide an overview of the day's sessions and learning objectives

10:10 a.m.  – 10:50 a.m. | Year in Review

Focus: A concise, interdisciplinary review of significant developments in AI, medicine, law, and governance since the previous TechInLaw Symposium, with particular attention to developments that shape the ethical questions explored throughout the day.

Potential Topics:

• Major advances in AI capabilities and their expanding applications across professional settings.Emerging uses of AI in clinical care, legal practice, education, and research.Changes in professional workflows, decision-making, and reliance on AI-assisted technologies.Significant developments in AI-related law, regulation, privacy, and information governance.Evolving institutional policies, professional standards, and approaches to responsible AI adoption.Emerging opportunities and challenges associated with integrating AI into established professional and institutional environments

Goals: 

• Establish a shared understanding of significant AI developments since the previous symposium.
• Highlight how AI adoption is transforming medicine, law, and higher education.
• Identify emerging professional, legal, and institutional considerations associated with these developments
• Provide a foundation for the symposium's subsequent discussions of responsible innovation, human vulnerability, professional judgment, and technological risk.

Style: Lightning talks or fireside chat

Speakers: Jack Pringle, Rebecca Smith, and Mark Uline

10:55 a.m. - 11:35 a.m. | Featured Speaker – Innovation for Whom: Doing Good Without Doing Harm

Focus:

• Explore how emerging technologies, particularly AI in healthcare, can be thoughtfully developed and implemented to address real-world needs and benefit diverse individuals and communities, with consideration for accessibility, end-user perspectives, and minimizing unintended consequences.

Potential Topics:

• Emerging applications of AI and biomedical informatics in healthcare and research.
• Opportunities for technological innovation to improve healthcare delivery, accessibility, and patient outcomes.
• Human-centered approaches to technology development and implementation.
• The importance of considering diverse patient needs and end-user perspectives throughout the innovation process.
• Considerations for maximizing the benefits of emerging technologies while minimizing unintended consequences, particularly for vulnerable or underserved populations.

Goals:

• Highlight how advances in AI and biomedical informatics can address real-world healthcare needs.
• Explore how thoughtful technology development and implementation can support accessibility and benefit diverse populations.
• Emphasize the importance of incorporating end-user perspectives and anticipating potential unintended consequences in responsible innovation.

Style: Lecture with Audience Q&A

Speaker: Jihad Obeid

11:35 a.m. - 12:35 p.m. | Vendors & Networking Lunch

Activities:

• Opportunity to visit Vendors
• Networking Icebreaker:
  • Stickers on badge denoting AI interests for conversation icebreakers
    • Green – AI Regulation and Policy
    • Yellow – AI in Professional Practice
    • Pink – AI in Education and Research
    • Orange – AI in Society

Food:

• Boxed Lunch provided for first 100 registrants from Horseshoe Catering
  • Handed out at designated table
• Food Trucks
  • Located outside for other attendees
    • Tacos Oink Oink

12:35 p.m. – 1:35 p.m. | Interdisciplinary Panel – When Technology Meets Human Vulnerability 

Focus:

• Examine the opportunities, challenges, and ethical considerations associated with using emerging technologies in sensitive or high-stakes settings, particularly when individual vulnerability, autonomy, trust, and professional judgment are central to decision-making.

 Potential Topics:

• Emerging applications of AI in clinical decision-making, mental healthcare, and other sensitive professional settings.
• Opportunities and challenges associated with using AI to support individuals with diverse clinical, cognitive, and behavioral needs.
• The implications of emerging technologies for patient autonomy, informed consent, trust, and individualized care.
• Potential risks involving privacy, discrimination, and unequal impacts across different populations.
• The capabilities and limitations of AI systems in high-stakes applications, including considerations surrounding reliability and appropriate human oversight.
• The ethical, clinical, and legal responsibilities associated with using emerging technologies when decisions may significantly affect individuals and communities.

Goals:

• Explore how emerging technologies can support care and decision-making in sensitive or high-stakes settings.
• Examine the ethical and practical considerations associated with using these technologies among individuals with diverse needs and circumstances.
• Highlight the importance of patient autonomy, trust, professional judgment, and appropriate oversight.
• Integrate medical, legal, and technical perspectives to better understand the opportunities and challenges of responsible technology use.

Style: Interdisciplinary panel with audience Q&A.

Speakers: Laura Lane Steele, Kevin Bennett, Paul Toriello, Homayoun Valafar, and Sien Susumu Rafael Rivera

Moderator: Tony D’Elia

1:40 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. | Featured Speaker – The Human in the Loop: What Should Technology Never Replace?

Focus:

• Explore the evolving relationship between technology and human judgment, expertise, and professional responsibility, considering what should remain fundamentally human as AI becomes increasingly capable and integrated into professional practice.

Potential Topics:

• The evolving role of human judgment and professional expertise in an AI-driven world.
• The importance of empathy, trust, and human relationships in professional practice.
• Opportunities and challenges associated with human-AI collaboration.
• How emerging technologies are changing the meaning and expectations of professional expertise.
• The ethical responsibilities of professionals when relying on AI-assisted technologies.
• Preserving human agency, dignity, and accountability while embracing technological innovation.

Goals:

• Examine the enduring importance of human judgment, relationships, and professional responsibility as AI capabilities advance.
• Explore how emerging technologies may complement or transform traditional professional roles and expertise.
• Encourage reflection on the distinction between what technology can accomplish and what responsibilities should remain with humans.

Style: Lecture with audience Q&A

Speaker: James Sandman

2:20– 2:35 p.m. | Break

Coffee and Snacks

2:35– 3:50 p.m. | Closing Debate – Drawing the Line: Balancing Innovation, Risk, and Responsibility

Central Question: As technological capabilities advance faster than our ability to fully understand their consequences, when should society allow innovation to proceed, and when do potential harms justify intervention?

Focus: Explore the balance between advancing beneficial technologies and addressing potential risks, considering how medicine, law, and society can encourage responsible innovation while protecting individuals and communities.

Potential Topics:

• Balancing the potential benefits of technological innovation against emerging or uncertain risks.
• The consequences of intervening too early or too late in technological development and adoption.
• Determining appropriate levels of risk and responsibility in high-stakes professional settings.
• The roles of regulation, professional standards, and institutional oversight in responsible innovation.
• Differences and similarities in how medicine and law approach technological risk, safety, and accountability.

Goals:

• Encourage thoughtful consideration of the opportunities and risks associated with emerging technologies.
• Explore differing perspectives on when and how intervention may be warranted.
• Examine the responsibilities of professionals, institutions, and policymakers in balancing innovation with appropriate safeguards.
• Integrate perspectives from medicine and law to reflect on the symposium's broader themes of responsible innovation.

Style: Modified Oxford Debate

Speakers:

Tony D’Elia, Jeff Gerac, Bryant Walker Smith, and Brian Keisler

Moderator: Tanner Dean, J.D. Candidate, Class of 2028, University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law

3:50 – 4:00 p.m. | Closing Remarks & Future Directions

• Purpose: Conclude the symposium and encourage continued engagement.
• Goals:
  • Reflect on key takeaways and opportunities for future collaboration.
  • Thank participants and invite feedback for future symposiums.
    Provide instructions for claiming CME/CLE credits and staying connected.
• Speaker: Leonardo Bonilha
  
  

Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of The University of South Carolina School of Medicine – Prisma Health–Midlands Continuing Medical Education (USCSOM-PHM CME) Organization and the Joseph F. Rice School of Law. The University of South Carolina School of Medicine – Prisma Health–Midlands Continuing Medical Education Organization is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Relevant financial relationships and acknowledgements of commercial support will be disclosed to participants at the conference. Faculty are required to disclose off-label/investigative uses of commercial products/devices.

AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM will be provided. The exact amount will be determined once the agenda is finalized.