Leading researchers discussed which requirements AI algorithms must meet to fight bias in healthcare during the'Artificial Intelligence and Implications for Health Equity: Will AI Improve Equity or Increase Disparities?' session which was held on 1 December. The speakers were: Ziad Obermeyer, associate professor of health policy and management at the Berkeley School of Public Health, CA; Luke Oakden-Rayner, director of medical imaging research at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia; Constance Lehman, professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, director of breast imaging, and co-director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Regina Barzilay, professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science and member of the Computer Science and AI Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The discussion was moderated by Judy Wawira Gichoya, assistant professor in the Department of Radiology at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. Artificial intelligence (AI) may unintentionally intensify inequities that already exist in modern healthcare and understanding those biases may help defeat them. Social determinants partly cause poor healthcare outcomes and it is crucial to raise awareness about inequity in access to healthcare, as Prof Sam Shah, founder and director of Faculty of Future Health in London, explained in a keynote during the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Digital event.

Run a Google search on "bias in AI" and you'll find all kinds of stories about what can -- and does -- happen when systems become automated and the human element is removed. Of course, today, AI and machine learning are embedded into myriad different technologies, and while it no doubt plays a positive role, biased data is often problematic. As AI applications become more prevalent, channel firms can play a role in helping customers mitigate algorithm bias. Biased AI ranked the second biggest AI-related ethical concern associated with AI in Deloitte's 2018 "State of AI in the Enterprise" study, behind AI's power to help create and spread false information. "Today, algorithms are commonly used to help make many important decisions, such as granting credit, detecting crime, and assigning punishment," the report notes.