JAMA: Will Generative AI Tools Improve Access to Reliable Health Information?
(with thanks to Meena Cherian, Switzerland)
Medical News & Perspectives AI in Medicine
April 5, 2024
Will Generative AI Tools Improve Access to Reliable Health Information?
Samantha Anderer; Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH
JAMA. Published online April 5, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.23003
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2817217
'This conversation is part of a series of interviews in which JAMA Editor in Chief Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, and expert guests explore issues surrounding the rapidly evolving intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and medicine.
'Could generative AI tools help extend access to reliable medical information and public health messaging — and, in turn, address health disparities? And what types of benefits should be demonstrated before AI technologies are introduced in the clinical setting?'
COMMENT (NPW): Yes of course AI will help to improve access to reliable healthcare information (with safeguards as we have discussed). But it is not a panacea. Universal access to reliable healthcare information cannot be achieved by a single intervention or a technical fix. The availability and use of reliable healthcare information is dependent on the integrity of the global evidence ecosystem as a whole: those who generate, publish, synthesise, package, find, and apply evidence. We need a better understanding of the drivers and barriers in the system, together with high-level political and financial commitment to universal access.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
