California’s reparations task force is recommending as part of its set of proposals to make changes for slavery and anti-Black racism state lawmakers address what it calls “racially biased” artificial intelligence that used in health care.
The task force, created by state law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, formally approved over the weekend its final recommendations to the California Legislature, which will decide whether to enact the measures and send them to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
The recommendations include several health care-related proposals, including some regarding medical artificial intelligence (AI), which the task force describes as “racially biased” and contributing to alleged systemic racism against Black Californians.
Specifically, the task force is calling on the legislature to fund either state universities or government agencies to study the “potential for harmful biases” in medical AI.
Female medical practitioner reassuring a patient (iStock)
CALIFORNIA REPARATIONS COMMITTEE CALLS FOR MANDATORY ‘ANTI-BIAS’ TRAINING TO GRADUATE MEDICAL SCHOOL
“The task force recommends that the legislature provide state funding to the California Department of Public Health, a University of California school, a California State University school, or another appropriate entity to study the potential for these harmful bias in commercial algorithms and AI-enabled medical devices,” the committee writes in the final report outlines its proposals, adding that the study should also recommend how best to regulate medical AI tools in California.
The report also suggests that the study should examine “‘evidence-based research on the use of devices and tools that recommend adjusting patients’ treatment or medication based on broad racial categories in the absence of information. to genetics or socio-cultural risk factors.'”
The task force cited a recent Paper of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). which it mentioned several times. The paper provides examples of alleged racial bias in medical AI, such as a tool meant to decide how best to allocate limited resources of additional care to new mothers at risk of postpartum depression who, according to the ACLU, is directing care away from black mothers. and favoring white mothers.
In California, meanwhile, the reparations committee recommended that the legislature require the state Department of Public Health to issue guidance to hospitals and other medical systems to ensure that AI-powered medical devices “are are not used for clinical applications without FDA approval or clearance, are not used in patient populations for which they are not intended, and cleared tools are not used outside of their intended cases of use.” That recommendation is also in the ACLU paper.
The task force also wants the California Department of Public Health to “create and maintain a public inventory of software as medical device (SaMD) products and provide demographic information about the subjects on which the devices have been calibrated or trained. devices.”
Digital brain imaging in the palm of your hand using artificial intelligence technology. (iStock)
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A fourth proposal is allocating positions and funding to the California Department of Justice to pursue claims against AI medical device manufacturers if their products have “disparate effects” when providers use them according to to the manufacturers’ instructions or if the products “deceptively promise fair.”
Despite the task force’s claims, however, new AI tools have helped medical professionals treat patients in different ways.
One such tool called RestoreU, for example, helps doctors create personalized care plans for patients with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Another tool known as DAX Express streamlines the note-taking process, a benefit that has reportedly helped doctors improve patient outcomes, work more efficiently, and reduce costs.
Beyond AI, the California Reparations Task Force is pushing several controversial health-related proposals, such as mandating “anti-bias training” and an assessment based on that training as graduation requirements for medical school.
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The task force is also pushing for a universal, single-payer health care system as a way to achieve health “equity” for Black residents in California.
