Tempered enthusiasm by interviewed experts for synthetic data and ELSI checklists for AI in medicine.

Abstract

Synthetic data are increasingly being used in data-driven fields. While synthetic data is a promising tool in medicine, it raises new ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) challenges. There is a recognized need for well-designed approaches and standards for documenting and communicating relevant information about artificial intelligence (AI) research datasets and models, including consideration of the many ELSI challenges. This study investigates the ethical dimensions of synthetic data and explores the utility and challenges of ELSI-focused computational checklists for biomedical AI via semi-structure interviews with subject matter experts. Our results suggest that AI experts have tempered views about the promises and challenges of both synthetic data and ELSI-focused computational checklists. Experts discussed a number of ELSI issues covered by previous literature on the topic, such as issues of bias and privacy, yet other less discussed ELSI issues, such as social justice implications and issues of trust were also raised. When discussing ELSI-focused computational checklists our participants highlighted the challenges connected to developing and implementing them.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43681-024-00652-x.