Abstract
BackgroundAdvances in healthcare artificial intelligence (AI) are occurring rapidly and there is a growing discussion about managing its development. Many AI technologies end up owned and controlled by private entities. The nature of the implementation of AI could mean such corporations, clinics and public bodies will have a greater than typical role in obtaining, utilizing and protecting patient health information. This raises privacy issues relating to implementation and data security.Main bodyThe first set of concerns includes access, use and control of patient data in private hands. Some recent public–private partnerships for implementing AI have resulted in poor protection of privacy. As such, there have been calls for greater systemic oversight of big data health research. Appropriate safeguards must be in place to maintain privacy and patient agency. Private custodians of data can be impacted by competing goals and should be structurally encouraged to ensure data protection and to deter alternative use thereof. Another set of concerns relates to the external risk of privacy breaches through AI-driven methods. The ability to deidentify or anonymize patient health data may be compromised or even nullified in light of new algorithms that have successfully reidentified such data. This could increase the risk to patient data under private custodianship.ConclusionsWe are currently in a familiar situation in which regulation and oversight risk falling behind the technologies they govern. Regulation should emphasize patient agency and consent, and should encourage increasingly sophisticated methods of data anonymization and protection.
Highlights
ConclusionsWe are currently in a familiar situation in which regulation and oversight risk falling behind the technologies they govern
Concerns with access, use and control artificial intelligence (AI) have several unique characteristics compared with traditional health technologies
The commercial implementation arrangements noted will necessitate placing patient health information under the control of for-profit corporations. While this is not novel in itself, the structure of the public–private interface used in the implementation of healthcare AI could mean such corporations, as well as owner-operated clinics and certain publicly funded institutions, will have an increased role in obtaining, utilizing and protecting patient health information
Summary
It is an exciting period in the development and implementation of healthcare AI, and patients whose data are used by these AI should benefit significantly, if not greatly, from the health improvements these technologies generate. Requirements for technologically-facilitated recurrent informed consent for new uses of data, where possible, would help to respect the privacy and agency of patients. There will be a need for new and improved forms of data protection and anonymization. This will require innovation, and there will be a regulatory component to ensuring that private custodians of data are using cutting edge and safe methods of protecting patient privacy.
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