Welcome to the SAGES Stories Podcast!

In this episode, hosts Kevin El-Hayek and Jenny Shao sit down with Drs. Nova Szoka and Amin Madani to talk digital surgery, artificial intelligence, computer vision, telepresence, surgical decision-making, and the apparently revolutionary idea that technology should solve an actual problem before we bolt it onto the operating room.

Nova and Amin get into the stuff that makes this more interesting than another “AI is coming” conversation: why situational awareness may matter more than technical skill, how computer vision can help keep a gallbladder dissection out of the danger zone, how enhanced visualization can make complex surgery a little less mysterious, and why good AI needs lots and lots and LOTS of diverse data. They also tackle ethics, governance, telepresence, sustainability, and SAGES’ role in helping establish some traffic laws before everybody starts driving. Also, Claude has opinions, ChatGPT is apparently too agreeable, and the producer continues to reserve the right not to edit out anything funny.

• Defining Digital Surgery: A SAGES White Paper
• Risk and Liability in the Deployment of AI Systems for Surgery: a SAGES White Paper
• 2025 Gerald Marks Lecture – Sustainable AI and the Next Wave of AI Ethics for Healthcare
• TAVAC – Technology and Value Assessments
• Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy