Supporting responsible AI for global health

 

Researchers and innovators working with data and artificial intelligence (AI) are confronted with significant complexity regarding the validity and contextual fit of their innovations and the associated risks and harms. They face a regulatory landscape which is still under construction, and struggle to integrate international principles and national regulations concretely into their projects. When incorporating gender equality and inclusion requirements, they struggle to go deeper than disaggregated data and broad stakeholder consultations. They also struggle to explain their work to institutional review boards or national-level ethics committees used to dealing with ethical, legal and social implications of traditional research and development methodologies.

This project aims to address these challenges by contributing to the improved implementation of responsible and gender-responsive AI for global health in low- and lower-middle-income countries. The focus of the research is on epidemic/pandemic preparedness and response and sexual, reproductive and maternal health across a diversity of development contexts. More specifically, the project seeks to deepen the understanding of how to implement responsible and gender-responsive AI across a diversity of contexts and applications and strengthen the capacity of AI researchers and innovators to engage in responsible and gender-responsive AI. It also aims to expand the international research agenda on AI governance and enhance the granularity of international regulatory discussions about responsible and gender-responsive AI, informed by evidence-based approaches from real-world use cases and research in low- and lower-middle-income countries.