Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Francis McKay and colleagues from the National Pathology Imaging Co-operative (NPIC) have published a new paper in the journal Research Involvement and Engagement, asking how we might strengthen public governance of medical AI research in the UK.

There is a growing consensus among scholars, national governments, and intergovernmental organisations of the need to involve the public in decision-making around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in society.

The paper addresses this key question by documenting various strengths and weaknesses of public involvement activities: citizen forums; patient and public involvement groups; and lay members on data access committees.

The authors argue that, although each approach has common strengths and weaknesses, they are unable to support each other due to a lack of proper integration. They propose developing a combined and unified model that would allow these activities to work in a more coordinated way, which could be useful for improving trustworthiness of big data and AI related medical research in the future.

McKay, F., Williams, B.J., Prestwich, G. et al. Public governance of medical artificial intelligence research in the UK: an integrated multi-scale model. Res Involv Engagem 8, 21 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-022-00357-7