The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine goes back decades, but adoption in medical facilities has accelerated in recent years. Over half of all AI-powered medical devices authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been authorized since 2023. AI is changing many aspects of medical care delivery. Here we explore how using AI in surgery is changing the way the operating room (OR) functions.
To learn more, check out the infographic below, created by the Fortis Surgical Technology program.
Who Is Using AI in Surgery?
Adoption of AI tools in medicine and the number of FDA-authorized medical devices that use AI have skyrocketed in the past five years.
In 2023, 38% of physicians reported using AI, according to the American Medical Association (AMA). That number grew to 66% in 2024 and 81% in 2025.
AI in Medicine Timeline
How has AI in medicine evolved over time? The first medical devices that used AI date back to 1995, and the pace of change has quickened in recent years.
1995: The first FDA-authorized AI-enhanced medical devices used pattern-recognition imaging software to improve cancer screening results.
2019: The FDA authorized the first AI-powered medical device for cancer diagnosis, according to Cedars-Sinai.
2025: The FDA has authorized more than 1,400 AI-powered medical devices, with more than half authorized between 2023 and 2025.
How Physicians Use AI
In an AMA survey, physicians shared how they use AI. While most of the current applications are outside the OR, the use of AI in surgery is also growing.
Physicians report the following uses of AI:
21%: Documentation of billing codes, medical charts, or patient visit notes
20%: Creation of patient discharge instructions and care plans
14%: Translation services
13%: Creation of summaries of medical research and standards of care
12%: Assistance with diagnoses
12%: Generation of patient chart summaries
How Is AI Being Used in Surgery?
AI is changing how surgical teams operate in areas that range from diagnostics to intraoperative imaging.
In the OR, AI tools assist surgical teams in mapping anatomy during surgical procedures, identifying subtle disease features, predicting surgical case durations, and anticipating case cancellations.
AI Use in Radiology
Radiology has adopted AI for vital tasks such as identifying warning signs that radiologists might miss and speeding up X-ray evaluations without compromising accuracy.
According to 2023 research from the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the use of AI helped pathologists reduce the error rate in identifying cancerous lymph nodes from 3.4% to 0.5%. Similarly, while board-certified radiologists took four hours to review X-rays, an AI algorithm took 90 seconds.
AI Use in Intraoperative Imaging
During surgical procedures, AI imaging technologies can give surgical teams real-time information and precise imagery.
When processing images, AI tools can reduce noise, enhance contrast, and extract features. AI can also improve precision by segmenting images to identify critical structures and regions. Finally, AI imaging tools can recognize surgical phases and automate their identification and labeling. This reduces operative errors.
AI Use in Surgical Prediction
The predictive power of AI helps surgical teams improve patient safety and optimize operations.
AI technologies can predict risk by analyzing patient data and identifying those at higher risk of complications. This improves preoperative planning. Similarly, AI helps surgical centers improve resource allocation by predicting the duration of surgical procedures. This can optimize OR scheduling and reduce operational bottlenecks.
Surgical staff can also use AI to support clinical decision-making. For example, AI technologies can assist in making triage decisions regarding incoming trauma patients.
Case Study: Cardiac Surgeries at the Mayo Clinic
At the Mayo Clinic, cardiac surgeons use AI to improve diagnostic accuracy and assess risk. They have also found AI valuable for analyzing preoperative health data. AI analysis can identify patients at high risk of operative complications.
AI-driven insights allow the cardiac surgery team at the Mayo Clinic to personalize procedures and tailor postoperative care. This data also allows the team to optimize surgical planning and resource use.
What Are the Benefits of Using AI in Surgery?
AI offers many benefits to professionals working in the surgical field, including helping them improve OR efficiency and track instruments.
Surgical Operations
During surgeries, AI-powered tools can help predict surgery timing, track medical instruments, and monitor surgical progress.
Surgery duration prediction: AI analytics can improve scheduling by estimating how long surgical procedures will take. This can help facilities avoid bottlenecks that push back OR schedules.
Instrument awareness: AI-powered systems can use real-time data to anticipate surgeons’ instrument needs. This can reduce the risk of misplacing instruments.
Care coordination: AI tools can provide real-time updates to members of the surgical team. This can reduce the need for manual tracking.
Surgical progress: AI tools can access real-time data to monitor surgical progress. This can detect deviations from the expected procedure.
Surgery task performance: Robotic systems can tie knots and sutures, allowing for more standardized operations in surgeries such as hernia repairs or appendectomies.
Surgical Training
Several types of AI tools can be used to train members of the surgical team. For example, AI surgical training technologies can generate training modules with individualized feedback.
AI-enhanced surgical simulations provide opportunities for skill development, and AI tools can provide immediate assessments of surgical skills.
Surgical Technologists and AI
Surgeons are not the only members of the surgical team using AI in surgery. Surgical technologists can also benefit from AI tools.
Learning how to leverage AI technologies can help surgical technologists improve patient safety and their sterilization techniques. They can also spend less time on documentation and more time on patient care. Finally, they can play a more important role in surgeries with increased responsibilities.
Maintaining Up-to-Date Skills
As AI adoption in medicine continues to accelerate, members of the surgical team need to ensure that they stay current in their technical skills, including skills related to new uses for AI in surgery. By pursuing a training program that integrates AI systems into surgical education, surgical personnel will be able to enter the OR with up-to-date skills.
