Complaint volumes have outgrown manual triage, and medical device companies are turning to AI to keep up. The speed gains are real, but used carelessly the same tools can bury a reportable event at the bottom of a queue while the MDR clock runs. This piece maps where AI genuinely helps in post-market surveillance, where human judgment has to stay, and what validation, monitoring, and audit trails a defensible program needs. It is grounded in the current regulatory frame, including the QMSR and FDA’s new inspection program (CP 7382.850) that took effect February 2, 2026, 21 CFR Part 803 reporting timelines, and ISO 13485 software validation expectations. It includes a practical table drawing the line between tasks that are safe to automate and decisions that must stay human-owned. The intended audience is quality, regulatory, and post-market surveillance professionals in the medical device industry.

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