Bias a Chief Barrier to Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

A perspective paper by Stanford University researchers emphasizes the need to address bias in artificial intelligence (AI) tools for healthcare. As AI becomes more prevalent in medicine, it is crucial to ensure these technologies benefit all populations. Historically, medicine has focused on the white and male body, and the researchers stress the importance of avoiding this bias in AI devices. The goal is to engage the AI biomedical community in designing research that prevents bias and promotes equity from the outset. Adequate data collection, including representation of minority populations, is identified as a critical step in developing equitable AI devices, as public datasets often lack diversity while private datasets are limited to specific institutions.