AI could harm health of millions, warn experts

Warnings about the broader threats of AI to human health and existence have been sounded

Artificial Intelligence could harm the health of millions and also pose an existential threat to humanity, a group of doctors and public health experts have warned.

There have been calls to halt the development of artificial intelligence until there are regulations in place.

Eminent intellectual Yuval Noah Harari wrote for The Economist arguing ,"We can still regulate the new AI tools, but we must act quickly. Whereas nukes cannot invent more powerful nukes, AI can make exponentially more powerful AI. The first crucial step is to demand rigorous safety checks before powerful AI tools are released into the public domain. Just as a pharmaceutical company cannot release new drugs before testing both their short-term and long-term side-effects, so tech companies shouldn’t release new AI tools before they are made safe. We need an equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration for new technology, and we need it yesterday."

He added, "We have just encountered an alien intelligence, here on Earth. We don’t know much about it, except that it might destroy our civilisation. We should put a halt to the irresponsible deployment of AI tools in the public sphere, and regulate AI before it regulates us."

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A group of health professionals from UK, US, Australia, Malaysia, and Costa Rica writing in the BJM Global Health journal argued that artificial intelligence can revolutionise healthcare by making diagnosis of diseases better, extending care to more people, and finding better ways to treat others. However, they feel the development of artificial intelligence can lead to negative health impacts.

They explained that the risks linked with medicine and healthcare "include the potential for AI errors to cause patient harm, issues with data privacy and security and the use of AI in ways that will worsen social and health inequalities."

They gave an example of an AI-driven pulse oximeter which overestimated the levels of blood oxygen in patients who had darker skin, resulting in their hypoxia being undertreated.

Warnings about the broader threats of AI to human health and existence have also been sounded.

AI could have an impact on the health of millions through social determinants of health and also through manipulation and control of others.

"When combined with the rapidly improving ability to distort or misrepresent reality with deep fakes, AI-driven information systems may further undermine democracy by causing a general breakdown in trust or by driving social division and conflict, with ensuing public health impacts," the experts argued.

The widespread deployment of AI technology will also result in a loss of jobs and the experts warned of the threats that come with it.

The group noted "While there would be many benefits from ending work that is repetitive, dangerous and unpleasant, we already know that unemployment is strongly associated with adverse health outcomes and behaviour," adding, "Furthermore, we do not know how society will respond psychologically and emotionally to a world where work is unavailable or unnecessary, nor are we thinking much about the policies and strategies that would be needed to break the association between unemployment and ill health."

However, the biggest threat comes from self-improving AI that can theoretically learn and perform all human tasks, as per the experts.

"We are now seeking to create machines that are vastly more intelligent and powerful than ourselves. The potential for such machines to apply this intelligence and power, whether deliberately or not and in ways that could harm or subjugate humans, is real and has to be considered," they said adding, "With exponential growth in AI research and development, the window of opportunity to avoid serious and potentially existential harms is closing."

“Effective regulation of the development and use of artificial intelligence is needed to avoid harm,” they warned. “Until such regulation is in place, a moratorium on the development of self-improving artificial general intelligence should be instituted," the group further noted.

Meanwhile in India, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw noted "The government is not considering bringing a law or regulating the growth of artificial intelligence in the country," while acknowledging there are ethical concerns and risks around AI but the Indian government has begun to make efforts to standardise responsible AI and promote the adoption of best practices.