Artificial intelligence is reshaping health research and speeding up the discovery of drugs and disease investigation.
With the help it brings to the healthcare sector, it also introduces challenges like data bias and the need for transparency.
Also read: AI and Healthcare
Researchers Utilize AI to Analyze Complex Health Data.
AI supports researchers in processing complex health data. It promises to transform, understand, prevent, and treat disease. However, Dr. Carleigh Krubiner, Bioethics Lead at Wellcome, points out that it must be deployed responsibly to avoid reinforcing biases.
AI greatly shortens the process of drug discovery, sorting through large amounts of data to identify potential novel drugs, reducing costs and time. It is particularly useful in rare diseases and conditions affecting low—and middle-income countries.
Also read: Breakthroughs in AI-Driven Drug Discovery
AI Helps in Analyzing Human Genetic Data
AI also allows the processing of genomic data at unprecedented speeds, enabling quicker identification of therapeutic targets, as Priscilla Chan of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative noted.
AI’s role in the Human Cell Atlas demonstrates this capability by rapidly and accurately mapping all cell types; AI offers new insights into human biology. As Anna Studman, senior researcher at the Ada Lovelace Institute, explains, the Human Cell Atlas would not be possible without AI’s data processing power.
Addressing Bias In AI Use
While AI has many benefits, much has to be done to ensure that it does not reinforce current biases. If this happens, health research and application outcomes will be biased, considering that many datasets are not diverse.
As Shuranjeet Singh, a lived experience consultant at Wellcome, explains, AI has the potential to reproduce the biases present in healthcare data, hence amplifying health inequalities.
Anna Studman explains how and why data is used to help build trust, particularly with marginalized communities, to solve these biases and ensure that AI benefits everyone equally through better representation in data sets and more lived experiences of different kinds of people.
Carleigh Krubiner said researchers need to check whether AI is probably the best application that can be used for a particular job and whether appropriate simpler solutions are more cost-effective.
Cryptopolitan Reporting by Emman Omwanda
