Hannah van Kolfschooten’s blog post explores the implications of AI in end-of-life care, using the recent debut of the "Sarco suicide pod" as a case study. This device, which allows users to self-initiate a painless, assisted suicide without medical involvement, has sparked debate about the role of technology in end-of-life decisions. Although the Sarco capsule operates independently of AI, the rising demand for tech-driven autonomy in such decisions suggests AI may soon play a larger role in assisted dying.

Van Kolfschooten outlines three potential AI applications in end-of-life contexts: evaluating euthanasia requests, assisting in procedural safety, and conducting post-procedural assessments. Each raises significant ethical and legal questions about responsibility, patient dignity, and the possibility of reducing complex human experiences to data points. To address these concerns, she advocates for clear, international guidelines that would establish boundaries around AI’s role in euthanasia, ensuring it serves as a supportive, rather than a decisive, tool in such profoundly personal decisions.