Nuffield Council on Bioethics releases AI brief

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has released a brief in which it examines current and potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare and ethical issues arising from its use.

The brief addresses the following issues:

• AI's potential to make erroneous decisions
• Who is responsible when AI is used to support decision-making
• Difficulties in validating the outputs of AI systems
• The risk of inherent bias in the data used to train AI systems
• Ensuring the security and privacy of potentially sensitive data
• Securing public trust in the development and use of AI technology
• The technology's effects on people's sense of dignity and social isolation in care situation
• Its effects on the roles and skill requirements of healthcare professionals
• AI's potential to be used for malicious purposes

"Our briefing note outlines some of the key ethical issues that need to be considered if the benefits of AI technology are to be realized, and public trust maintained," said director Hugh Whittall in a statement released by the council. "The challenge will be to ensure that innovation in AI is developed and used in a ways that are transparent, that address societal needs, and that are consistent with public values."