Ethics

The development and use of new AI systems and applications in medicine promise innovations and improvements in terms of prevention, diagnostics and therapy. For example, AI-based medical expert systems can support doctors in decision-making, in the field of personalized medicine, the use of data- and knowledge-based processes enables a more specific focus on individual patients, and in the context of imaging procedures, the speed and precision of diagnostics can be significantly increased.

In order to ensure the appropriate use of data-driven procedures and AI technologies in medicine, not only the functionality of the AI system and the medical application context, but also related ethical aspects must be taken into account. These include questions about the benefits and risks of the system, data protection, privacy protection, transparency, traceability and explainability of the decisions made by the AI system, but also questions about justice, non-discrimination and fairness, as well as the autonomy, responsibility and accountability of the actors involved. Including ethical issues at a very early stage in the development of an AI system and in the wider application context makes it possible to anticipate, mitigate and, if necessary, prevent negative implications. For example, the AGE supports research groups in considering special issues such as the informational self-determination of patients and the changed doctor/patient relationship in the design process as early as the design phase of AI-supported health apps.

The work of the AGE focuses on analyzing the content, meaning and implications of ethical concepts, principles and values in the context of the use of AI procedures in medicine. In addition to conceptual analyses, empirical research to determine the respective socio-technical context is an important task.