Technology assessment: Artificial intelligence in the medical sector

IMAGE: Treating diseases and "improving " genetic material: KIT researchers investigate potential contributions of AI and the resulting ethical problems. Decoding of the human genome still poses puzzles that might be solved with the help of artificial intelligence. New therapeutic approaches to treating severe diseases appear possible as do non-medical "improvements" of the genetic material. With funds of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), technology assessment experts of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) study which applications are realistic and which ethical issues they may entail. "Modern genome research works on understanding and predicting how genetic differences between human beings determine complex features, such as predispositions to frequent diseases," says Harald König of KIT's Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS).