Ensuring equity and accessibility in the integration of AI in Advance Engineering Biology

Project duration: October 2024 – October 2027

The Challenge

Both artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making (ADM) offer significant opportunities in medicine and the life sciences, including within the field of engineering biology. AI and ADM can be used to interpret complex data, undertake predictive modelling, and create personalised treatment plans. While AI and ADM represent a significant step forward in these areas, it is critical that the application of these technologies is equitable and due consideration is given to access issues that may emerge, in order to avoid excluding or discriminating against certain groups and perpetuating global health disparities.

The Response

The increasing applications of AI and ADM in data-driven molecular design necessitates that future research considers how equity and access issues emerge in the integration of AI, ADM and engineering biology, to create an inclusive, ethical, and socially responsible technological landscape. This project aims to spotlight how innovative solutions in advanced engineering biology can ensure that the benefits of future technologies are widely and equitably distributed, with a focus on health & medicine. By investigating equity and access at the integration of AI and ADM engineering biology design, our findings will support the development of a more inclusive and sustainable field of engineering biology where attention is given to inherent disparities in technology development that can impact useability and just transitions to a bio-enabled economy. Our findings will be globally relevant and address a critical need at the interface of emerging technologies powered by AI-driven decision making.

Impact

We will provide evidence-based insights into (i) how awareness of the potential inequitable or discriminatory impacts of AI and ADM can be built into the research and development process, and (ii) how approaches to mitigate these negative outcomes can be implemented in training, research and development, technological infrastructures, and be built into regulatory and ethical frameworks.

Team

Prof Jackie Leach Scully (Director of the Disability Innovation Institute at The University of New South Wales), Aditi Mankad, Prof Rachel Ankeny (Chair of the Philosophy Group at Wageningen University & Research), and Lucy Carter.