WHO warns of risks of using Artificial Intelligence in healthcare

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned this Tuesday about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the health area, which can generate incorrect guidance, breach personal data or spread misinformation, requiring greater oversight by governments.

The UN agency urges “caution” with the use of platforms such as ChatGPT, Bard or Bert “that imitate the understanding, processing and production of human communication”.

According to the WHO, so-called large language model (LLM) tools, generated by AI, can “pose risks to human well-being and public health”.

WHO experts consider that the rapid and wide dissemination of MLL and the growing experimental use for health-related purposes is not being accompanied by control mechanisms, highlights a publication on the UN News portal.

Among the mentioned control mechanisms are the adhesion of artificial intelligence platforms to values ​​such as transparency, inclusion, specialized supervision or rigorous evaluation.

“WHO recognizes that the appropriate use of technologies, including LLM, can contribute to supporting health professionals, patients, researchers and scientists”, he adds.

The new platforms can be “a tool to support medical decisions and increase diagnostic capacity in low-resource environments”, but the focus “must be on protecting people’s health and reducing inequality”, he adds.

Despite the benefits, this agency highlights the “risks associated” with the use of these tools to improve access to health information, arguing that “they need to be carefully evaluated”.

“The hasty adoption of untested systems can lead to errors on the part of health professionals, cause harm to patients and undermine confidence in Artificial Intelligence and future technologies”, he warns.

The data used to train artificial intelligence can be biased, generating false or inaccurate information that can pose risks to health, equity and inclusion, he also points out.

To face these situations, the WHO proposes that the authorities of each country analyze the benefits of Artificial Intelligence for health purposes before generalizing its use.

In this sense, the organization identified six fundamental principles that must govern: the protection of the autonomy of professionals, the promotion of human well-being, the guarantees of transparency, the promotion of responsibility, the inclusion and the promotion of Artificial Intelligence.