Australian Catholic University’s Plunkett Centre for Ethics will host a webinar next week to introduce healthcare professionals, ethicists and the public to bioethical issues in artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence poses unique benefits to the healthcare profession in terms of effectively diagnosing and treating illness.
But no matter how effective this new technology promises to be, careful ethical reflection is needed to ensure that the human-centred dimension of healthcare is not lost.
During the online event on Tuesday, August 12, Plunkett Centre researchers Dr Steve Matthews, Dr Marija Kirjanenko and Adam Wesselinoff will explore how large language models work, how they could improve healthcare, and what research indicates about diagnostic accuracy, risk, and the limitations of the technology.
Beyond the important but well-known risks of bias and privacy breaches, the researchers will explore more fundamental ethical issues of responsibility, agency, knowledge and trust.
The webinar will serve as a valuable introduction for anyone starting to explore this new technology. Professionals already experienced with AI will gain a deeper understanding of ethical considerations and get a glimpse of the latest research.
Plunkett Centre Director Xavier Symons said that despite the claims that AI would transform everything, robust and time-tested ethical frameworks remain our best means of putting the technology to good use.
“The ultimate test for the adoption of new technologies is whether they promote human flourishing. In healthcare, this means promoting and upholding the good of both the patient and the clinician as we consider the purported benefits of AI,” Dr Symons said.
“After all, a person comes to his or her doctor to be healed, and this act of healing takes place within an ethical encounter between persons – not between a person and a machine. Reasoned and compassionate ethical reflection should therefore be encouraged at every stage of the AI ‘revolution’.”
Details and registrations: AI in healthcare: What is going on, ethically?
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Artificial Intelligence in healthcare: What is going on, ethically? (ACU)
