AI in Medicine

Abstract

This chapter explores the use of artificial intelligence in medicine. AI promises major benefits for healthcare. But along with the benefits come risks. Not so much the risk of powerful super-intelligent machines taking over, but the risk of structural injustices, biases, and inequalities being perpetuated in a system that cannot be challenged because nobody actually knows how the algorithms work. Or the risk that there might be no doctor or nurse present to hold your hand and reassure you when you are at your most vulnerable. There are many initiatives to come up with ethical or trustworthy AI and these efforts are important. Yet we should demand more than this. Technological solutionism and the urge to “move fast and break things” often dominate the tech industry but are inappropriate for the healthcare context and incompatible with basic healthcare values of empathy, solidarity, and trust.