In the presentation of the white paper on “Artificial Intelligence: Social concerns, ethical proposals and political guidelines”, focused on life and health sciences, Maria do Céu Patrão Neves recommended that legislators read the document and asked for pressure on politicians to be recommendations on the new technology were applied.
But “without minimizing the risks or devaluing the risks that exist” in AI because, “otherwise we could be lost here in the face of the economic or financial interests associated with technological development”.
For society, Maria do Céu Patrão Neves recommended more attention from citizens to the issue, in order to “become responsible agents of the digital transformation of our society”.
The white paper is now available online and was presented to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, who admitted “some concern” present in society with the “interaction of AI with various elements of our lives” .
“We all want things as simple as ensuring transparency and ethics”, always “in defense of an asset that is invaluable, which are people’s rights, freedoms and guarantees”, which is why AI must have these legal limits .
AI “is highly disruptive and is creating new paradigms in human relations and life sciences”, with “inalienable risks to mitigate”, which is why the Ethics Council for Life Sciences organized a working group to “specify the guidelines to be developed nationally within the scope of biomedicine”, explained Patrão Neves.
Issues such as patient diagnosis, decision-making, autonomous robotics, recipes or treatments were some of the topics addressed by the members of the working group.
AI is an “explosive mixture for good and, if not used well, for evil”, said Rui Nunes, member of the working group, giving as an example that it will be necessary to “redefine civil liability for damages”, in cases of treatments, diagnoses or prescriptions processed by AI.
“We have to think in advance before the facts happen”, he warned.
Miguel Ricou, another member of the group, highlighted that “professionals will have to be able to be critical of the diagnoses” given by the AI, which implies additional training.
Recording consultations and data collection, as well as summaries or therapeutic adjustments are other challenges that must be regulated, always with the guarantee that the human being is able to be the final decision maker.
“AI is a tool but we should not want to abdicate responsibility for the decision” and “we have to overcome the great paradox: it is easy to work with it but it is difficult to understand how it works”, highlighted Miguel Ricou, who was concerned about the lack of digital literacy of the population.
“We cannot accept a society in which people receive 50 euros and let themselves be photographed by an AI”, he exemplified, in reference to a biometric data collection campaign by the company Worldcoin that ended up being banned.
Respect for privacy and data protection in all areas is one of the concerns of the document, which also provides for the safeguarding of intellectual creativity in biomedical research, the review of informed consent, rules for digital clinical assistance, ensuring the “verifiability of systems and the explainability of the decision process” and “cultivating a therapeutic relationship” that encompasses “the psychological and social dimensions of each person”.
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