Who bears liability when AI gives bad prescribing advice

Julia S Etkin, Vincent Joralemon
NPJ Digit Med. 2026 Jun 11;9(1):448. doi: 10.1038/s41746-026-02854-5.
Abstract
AI chatbots increasingly provide patients with prescribing-level advice, often without physician involvement. Under US law, we argue that the learned intermediary doctrine, which has long governed drug-manufacturer liability for failure to warn, operates differently across two emerging pathways: AI behind the clinician, and AI advising patients directly. The more urgent implication lies elsewhere, under ordinary medical malpractice: clinicians may be required to screen patients for AI-sourced prescribing advice.