WHO outlines principles for ethics in health AI
0Reported today on The Verge
For the full article visit: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/30/22557119/who-ethics-ai-healthcare
Reported today in The Verge.
WHO outlines principles for ethics in health AI
The World Health Organization released a guidance document outlining six key principles for the ethical use of artificial intelligence in health. Twenty experts spent two years developing the guidance, which marks the first consensus report on AI ethics in healthcare settings.
The report highlights the promise of health AI, and its potential to help doctors treat patients - particularly in under-resourced areas. But it also stresses that technology is not a quick fix for health challenges, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and that governments and regulators should carefully scrutinize where and how AI is used in health.
The WHO said it hopes the six principles can be the foundation for how governments, developers, and regulators approach the technology. The six principles its experts came up with are: protecting autonomy; promoting human safety and well-being; ensuring transparency; fostering accountability; ensuring equity; and promoting tools that are responsive and sustainable.
There are dozens of potential ways AI can be used in healthcare. There are applications in development that use AI to screen medical images like mammograms, tools that scan patient health records to predict if they might get sicker, devices that help people monitor their own health, and systems that help track disease outbreaks. In areas where people don't have access to specialist doctors, tools could help evaluate symptoms. But when they're not developed and implemented carefully, they can - at best - not live up to their promise. At worst, they can cause harm.
Some of the pitfalls were clear during the past year. In the scramble to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare institutions and gov