Fairness and inclusivity: key ingredients in equitable health AI

What are the most important ethical considerations for artificial intelligence (AI) in health care? The World Health Organization tried to answer this question in its recent report "Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health." It offers recommendations on how to design safe, transparent, and equitable AI products and applications that can help providers make informed medical decisions and help patients achieve positive outcomes. All of these are laudable. But as someone deeply involved in applying AI to health care, I found one element grating: Highlighting inclusivity and equality as things to be "encouraged" is not the way forward, especially with something as important as health care. Inclusivity and equality must be built into the DNA of a product from day one, and it does not happen by simply checking a politically correct box.