Socrates in the Machine: The “House Ethicist” in AI for Healthcare

Abstract

The physical presence of an on-site ethics expert has emerged as one way of addressing current and future ethical issues associated with the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. We describe and evaluate different roles of the “house ethicist,” a figure we consider beneficial to both artificial intelligence research and society. However, we also argue that the house ethicist is currently in need of further professionalization to meet a number of challenges outlined here and will require both individual and concerted community efforts to ensure the flourishing of the embedded ethics approach.