In March 2024, a discussion on addressing health disparities through AI and ethics highlighted key insights. Initially, clinicians expressed concerns about job loss, bias, and impact on health equity with autonomous AI. To address these concerns, an ethical framework for AI was developed, emphasizing beneficence, justice, and autonomy. Metrics for ethics were introduced to measure adherence to these principles, allowing for quantification of bias and its effects on patient populations.
The framework was applied to clinical practice, identifying potential biases in disease management, clinical training, practice characteristics, and monitoring. The goal is to improve transparency and mitigate bias, ultimately enhancing health equity, with autonomous AI diagnostics offering scalable solutions to reach underserved populations.