SANTIAGO: The Chief of Surgery at Clínica Las Condes in Santiago, Chile, has successfully performed a gallbladder removal alone during a laparoscopic procedure, assisted by an autonomous AI-guided camera
The system used software that automatically controlled the surgical camera and magnetic instruments, allowing the AI to track the surgeon’s tools in real time—adjusting angles and following movements without manual input.
“The camera was following me wherever I moved my hands, and the whole process was excellent,” Funke told Reuters news agency after the surgery. “This camera lets us do the surgery alone. I did it alone with the robot.”
Around the world, companies, universities, and research centres are developing AI-assisted tools to support or even perform surgical procedures.
According to Precedence Research, the global surgical robotics market was valued at $15.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $64.4 billion by 2034.
In July, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reported a breakthrough in which an AI-guided robot successfully performed surgery on pig livers and gallbladders.
They described the achievement as a significant step toward fully automated medical procedures.
Alberto Rodriguez, CEO of Levita Magnetics, who provided the technology for Monday’s surgery in Santiago, echoed the same sentiment: “This is the first step in surgical automation with a real patient in the operating room where we showed that AI can help the surgeon.”
