AI paternalism in healthcare, and Nigeria’s answer to Tesla

Would you trust medical advice generated by artificial intelligence? It’s a question raised by yet more headlines this week proclaiming that AI can diagnose a range of diseases. The implication is often that they’re better, faster, and cheaper than medical professionals.

But many of these technologies have well-known problems. They’re trained on limited or biased data, and they often don’t work as well for women and people of color as they do for white men.

And there’s another issue. As these technologies begin to infiltrate healthcare, researchers say we’re seeing a rise in what’s known as AI paternalism. The fear is that doctors may be inclined to trust AI at the expense of a patient’s own lived experiences, as well as their own clinical judgment. Read the full story.

— Jessica Hamzelou

Jessica’s story is from The Checkup, her weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things biotech. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

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