Why artificial intelligence in the NHS could fail women and ethnic minorities

Artificial intelligence (AI) could lead to UK health services that disadvantage women and ethnic minorities, scientists are warning. They are calling for biases in the systems to be rooted out before their use becomes commonplace in the NHS. They fear that without that preparation AI could dramatically deepen existing health inequalities in our society. The researchers examined the state of the art approach to AI used by hospitals worldwide and found it had a 70 per cent success rate in predicting liver disease from blood tests. But they uncovered a wide gender gap underneath – with 44 per cent of cases in women missed, compared with 23 per cent of cases among men.