Numerous experts in the use of AI in radiology from leading imaging societies have released a statement to help guide the creation of ethical use of the technology, published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, Radiology, Insights into Imaging and the Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal.
The multisociety statement emphasizes that ethical use of AI in radiology should promote well-being, minimize harm and ensure both the benefits and harms inherent to AI are fairly distributed to all stakeholders. The document examines ethics through the lens of data, algorithms and practice.
“Radiologists remain ultimately responsible for patient care and will need to acquire new skills to do their best for patients in the new AI ecosystem,” Raymond Geis, MD, ACR Data Science Institute senior scientist and one of the paper’s leading contributors, said in a statement. “The radiology community needs an ethical framework to help steer technological development, influence how different stakeholders respond to and use AI, and implement these tools to make the best decisions for—and increasingly with—patients.”
The document poses more questions than answers, but is meant to begin a dialogue among radiologists about how to start developing codes of conduct for ethical AI in imaging, according to Geis.
“The application of AI tools in radiological practice lies in the hand of the radiologists, which also means that they have to be well-informed not only about the advantages they can offer to improve their services to patients, but also about the potential risks and pitfalls that might occur when implementing them,” said Erik R. Ranschaert, MD, PhD, president of the European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics. “This paper is therefore an excellent basis to improve their awareness about the potential issues that might arise, and should stimulate them in thinking proactively on how to answer the existing questions.”
The American College of Radiology (ACR), European Society of Radiology (ESR), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM), European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics, Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR) and American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) all contributed to the statement.
Look for a more in-depth conversation on ethical AI with Dr. Geis in an upcoming issue of HealthImaging news.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.