Healthcare needs trustworthy AI

Oct 19

To what extent does Artificial Intelligence (AI) already influence healthcare today, and what will the future bring? What role do trustworthiness and fairness play in the adoption of AI technology in the field of healthcare? These questions were discussed in an interdisciplinary group at the workshop "Trustworthy AI in healthcare", initiated by leiwand.ai.

The workshop "Trustworthy AI in healthcare" took place virtually on March 15th 2022, and is part of the initiative "Trustworthy AI in practice" that was called to life by the founders of leiwand.ai, Rania Wazir and Gertraud Leimüller. The workshop was implemented together with the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, the Vienna Business Agency, Women in Heath IT and INiTS, as well as the research project fAIr by design (funded by the FFG).

The 30 participants were carefully selected from a wide range of stakeholder groups: AI developers, users of AI systems, scientists from different disciplines and stakeholders from companies and public administration, as well as representatives from patients’ and human rights organisations. In a co-creation setting, the interdisciplinary participants were invited to join the discussion on potential areas of application of AI in healthcare, their specific challenges and opportunities as well as practical requirements on trustworthy AI.

Two speakers introduced the topic. Elisabeth Dokalik-Jonak, founder and CEO of the health tech startup Memocorby Systems, reported from her experience in practice, including why trustworthiness is of particular importance, especially when dealing with AI systems using patient-generated data.

Building on this, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alexander Gaiger, Program Director Telemedicine, E-Health and Artificial Intelligence, Comprehensive Cancer Medicine University of Vienna, provided the thematic overview. His talk ranged from the key dimensions of trustworthiness of AI in healthcare, to the concept of augmented intelligence, and emphasizing the importance of a European approach to AI committed to the goals of enlightenment.

In a subsequent plenary discussion with both speakers, reasons for different levels of trust and acceptance among users and patients with regards to the use of AI in healthcare were discussed, as well as the problems of data availability and quality. On the other hand, practical first steps, such as the early involvement of relevant decision makers and the stronger involvement of the user perspective in AI development, were highlighted.

The discussion was further deepened in small interactive groups, in which the opportunities and challenges of trustworthy AI in healthcare were analyzed. All groups engaged in a lively discussion and identified a variety of scenarios. The challenges discussed ranged from lack of knowledge and fear of the unknown, to lack oftransparency and risks of discrimination, to legal frameworks and the practical difficulties of integration into existing software systems. These are offset by opportunities such as increasing the efficiency and quality of health care while reducing the workload of staff, increasing control and comprehensibility for patients, and making visible or protecting against discrimination. Download a summary of our findings here: Findings PDF

Major conclusions:

The exchange showed that the use of AI in healthcare processes in Austria is already well advanced in some cases, but that integration into existing systems is often difficult. There are many legal, ethical and sociological aspects to consider in this highly critical application area. Interdisciplinary discourse has to be continued in order to jointly shape the development and application of AI technology in this field. Only through further multi-stakeholder engagement and discourse can the potential of artificial intelligence for healthcare unfold and opportunities be exploited, as well as the emerging challenges be overcome.

Blog post image (c): Accuray Khaj

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