Artificial intelligence (AI) is being hailed by various actors, including United Nations agencies, as having the potential to alleviate poverty, reduce inequalities, and help attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).1 Many AI projects are promoted as making important contributions to health care and to reducing global and national health inequities. However, one of the risks of AI-driven health projects is that they can be singularly focused on one health problem and implemented to resolve that one problem, without consideration of how a whole health system is needed to enable any one “solution” to function in both the short and long term. Health projects that have not been designed in participation with local people have a history of failing, and externally funded development projects are especially vulnerable. In terms of human rights, such failings can be attributed to a lack of participation, an imbalance of power, and failure to observe the critically important role of key institutions such as the health system in fulfilling people’s health rights.
展开▼
