Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 16, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Nov 16, 2022 - Jan 11, 2023
Date Accepted: Mar 10, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence in Population Health and the Public’s Role in its Governance: Perspectives from a Citizen and Expert Panel
ABSTRACT
Background:
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are spreading in the health sector. Mainly used for individualized care, AI is increasingly aimed at population health. This raises important ethical considerations, but also calls for responsible governance, considering that this will affect the population. However, the literature points to a lack of citizen participation in the governance of AI in health. It is therefore timely to investigate the governance of the ethical and societal implications of AI in population health.
Objective:
To explore the perspectives and attitude of citizens and experts on (1) the ethics of AI in population health, (2) the engagement of citizens in AI governance, and (3) the potential of a digital application to foster citizen engagement.
Methods:
We recruited a panel of 21 citizens and experts. Using an online survey, we explored their perspectives and attitudes on the ethical issues of AI in population health, the relative role of citizens and other actors in AI governance, and the ways in which citizens can be supported to take part in AI governance through a digital application. The responses of the participants were both analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.
Results:
According to the participants, AI is perceived to be already present in population health, its benefits are regarded positively, but there is a consensus that AI raises significant societal implications. Participants also showed a high level of agreement toward involving citizens into AI governance. They highlighted aspects to be considered in the creation of a digital application to foster this involvement. They recognized the importance of creating an application both accessible and transparent.
Conclusions:
These results offer avenues for the development of a digital application to raise awareness, survey, and support citizens’ decision-making on the ethical, legal, and social issues of AI in population health.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.