PPL Faculty Fellow Brian Hutler (Department of Philosophy) presents in our Colloquium Series

The Dehumanizing Effects of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

In his talk Dr. Hutler describes a moral and ethical problem with using artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. When designed and applied in appropriate ways, AI can save lives. For example, AI programs may be able to diagnose diseases more accurately than a human doctor. But he argues that using AI in healthcare incentivizes treating patients as passive nodes of resource extraction. From this perspective, patients provide raw materials that can be extracted and sold at a profit, much like an oil well or a rare-earth mine. He describes two ways in which AI incentivizes this extractive process. First, patients generate electronic health records that can be sold to software companies and used to train or validate AI programs. Second, healthcare providers can use AI to maximize the amount of reimbursable care provided to a patient based on their health insurance status. Multiple lawsuits brought by patients and their families show that healthcare providers and software companies are already using AI in both of these ways. His worry is that, as AI is increasingly incorporated into healthcare, healthcare providers will be incentivized to view the patients they treat as opportunities for resource extraction, which is incompatible with treating them as persons worthy of dignity and respect.