Automation Through Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare

This assignment requires that you think through the strengths and weaknesses of algorithmic decision-making in the Global South and subsequently suggest policies to install strong ethical guardrails governing AI.
Although artificial intelligence may still sound like a futuristic fantasy, in truth, AI is all around us in more mundane ways than we imagine. You can read about some applications of AI in health and agriculture in developing countries here. The rapid rise in artificial intelligence (AI) has created many opportunities globally, in fields as diverse as healthcare diagnoses to creating labor efficiencies through automated tasks. AI systems are powerful analytical tools, but they come with ethical risks and can harm the very communities they are designed to help.
Risks associated with AI have already begun to compound on top of existing inequalities, resulting in further harm to already marginalized groups. UNESCO published the first-ever global standard on AI ethics – the ‘Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’, eventually adopted by all 193 Member States in November 2021.You can read more about how AI-systems can deliver biased results here. Machine Learning is an application of AI that enables systems to learn from data and to improve without being explicitly programmed, thus improving their accuracy over time. Machine learning algorithms can be biased, often performing worse for certain sub-groups defined by protected attributes. This has been shown to be the case in different areas, from diabetic retinopathy diagnostics1 to loan approval process.
PT#5: Automation/AI
1. Identify one AI powered initiative in a specific country of the Global South and investigate when it was introduced
2. Highlight the original goal and mandate of this automation
3. Identify some ethical challenges in the AI tools used in this case (for example, transparency, bias, surveillance, fairness, do no harm, sustainability)?
4. Specifically highlight who, in your opinion, is most likely to be adversely affected by this AI system
5. Assuming that the automation is generally beneficial, recommend what can be done to prevent the harms that you identify.