Diagonalizing Global Health with Artificial Intelligence (AI)? On the Ethics and Evolving Algorithms of Health Systems Strengthening

This project aims to accomplish two main objectives while in residence, which will contribute to two main deliverables resulting from Brocher Foundation support. During residency, this project aims to participate in Brocher Foundation events and in multidisciplinary scholarly community, while also taking advantage of the Foundation’s proximity to IOs and NGOs by conducting interviews (n=12) with experts in global health issues. By pairing IO/NGO interviews with Big Tech interviews (n=12), this project will produce two main deliverables. The first is a peer-reviewed article that explores the question: How might medical AI disrupt past legacies of global health interventions and engage in health systems strengthening? The second is a lecture series developed from article themes, to be presented in different settings (academia, Big Tech, global health agencies) with the goal of increasing cross-sectoral conversations and collaborations. 

During residency, this project will benefit from the Brocher Foundation campus and programming by participating in social life around the Foundation, and by finding opportunities to engage with the pluri-disciplinary research community. Events held through the Health & Ethics Agora will be an excellent way to bridge networks between Geneva residents and Brocher Foundation affiliates, while also engaging topics of ethics across generations. I would happily contribute a presentation of preliminary findings to the Health Agora’s “Brocher Interviews” series. 

A second way this project will benefit during the residency period is by taking advantage of the Brocher Foundation’s proximity to global health NGOs/IOs to conduct interviews that will inform a publication on AI for health systems strengthening. My established connections with workers at UNAIDS and G2H2 will help gain entry to the NGO/IO space, and will ensure a timely collection of data. 

As a result of a Brocher Foundation residency, this broader project aims to publish a peer-reviewed article that considers how AI tool design taking place in Big Tech could contribute to plans for health systems strengthening taking place in IOs/NGOs. The open access article will feature a multidisciplinary approach and accessible language in order to increase readership across sectors. 

Finally, in order to further increase accessibility of the research, the proposed project aims to develop a lecture series from the peer-reviewed article. By reflecting on lessons learned during interview data collection and a review of the fast-growing literature, this project will draw on connections in Bay Area Tech, in academic conference spaces, and new connections made at Geneva-area IO/NGOs. Doing so will invite multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary conversations on AI ethics, and will explore what might be done to mitigate the ethical, legal, and social consequences of quickly progressing medical technologies.