A key question that needs to be asked before deploying AI for health uses is, Who will be responsible if something goes wrong? Because it sure won't be the AI, which can't be taken to court, sued, fined, restricted or punished in any way.
So, which humans will take the blame? Given that the actual programmers who authored the AI are typically unknown, safe and hidden behind employment contracts, and that the corporations that provide the software are massive behemoths sitting on billions of capital - good luck in trying to sue them! - the responsibility for the use of AI in health scenarios is very much in the hands of the researchers or staff applying the software. If someone dies because of a misdiagnosis by the AI, if the wrong medication is applied, if bungled AI counseling leads to a suicide - well, the list is long. Are insurance companies covering this?
Chris Zielinski
Centre for Global Health, University of Winchester, UK and
President, World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
Blogs; http://ziggytheblue.wordpress.com and http://ziggytheblue.tumblr.com
Publications: http://www.researchgate.net and https://winchester.academia.edu/ChrisZielinski/
HIFA Profile: Chris Zielinski held senior positions at the World Health Organization for 15 years, in Africa, WHOs Geneva Headquarters, and India, and earlier in other UN-system organizations working in writing, media, publishing, knowledge management, and intellectual property. He also spent three years as Chief Executive of the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (looking after the intellectual property revenues of all UK authors and journalists). Chris was the founder of the ExtraMED project (Third World biomedical journals on CD-ROM), and managed the Gates Foundation-supported Health Information Centres project. At WHO he was appointed to the Ethical Review Committee, and was an originator of the African Health Observatory during his years in Brazzaville. With interests in the information, and computer ethics and bioethics, Chris has edited numerous books and journals and worked as a translator. Now working independently, Chris has recently finished writing a travel book called Afreekinout. Email: chris AT chriszielinski.com