Why should AI be the next topic for NICE Listens? This blog explains why AI should be the next topic for our public engagement programme, which explores the difficult questions that sit behind complex decisions.
The impact of AI on health and care is already being felt. From supporting diagnosis to helping services manage growing demand, AI could transform health and care as we recognise it. But it also raises significant questions.
Many express concerns about the impact that AI has on trust, fairness and transparency.
As an evidence-based guidance producer for more than 25 years, the moment is right for NICE to listen to the public’s views on AI.
That is the purpose of NICE Listens – our deliberative public engagement programme, designed to explore the moral, social and ethical questions that sit behind complex decisions. When NICE considers difficult issues, NICE Listens helps ensure our work is informed not only by rigorous evidence and economic analysis, but also by the values of the society we serve.
This piece explores how NICE Listens shapes our approach and why AI will be the focus of our next conversation.
What NICE Listens does
NICE is known for the robust methods behind its guidance. Independent committees consider the evidence to make recommendations that are fair, objective and evidence-based. But many of the questions NICE faces also involve social value judgements: what matters most to people, which trade-offs are acceptable, and how to apply fairness in practice.
NICE Listens complements our existing decision-making processes by bringing societal values into these conversations.
During each public dialogue, participants learn about a topic in depth. They interact with expert stakeholders with differing views on the topic, deliberate together, and develop recommendations for NICE. We work with specialist external contractors to run each dialogue, so that the process remains as independent as possible.
Why AI is the next conversation
AI is becoming more prominent across health and care, with potential to support diagnosis, improve productivity and help services respond to growing pressure. NICE is already evaluating AI-enabled technologies, including software to support stroke diagnosis, and AI-assisted echocardiography for heart failure.
We have published a plan on how we will enable the safe and effective adoption of AI, and we are developing a best practice methods framework for the use of AI in evidence generation, synthesis and review. But this is only part of the picture. AI also raises wider questions about trust, transparency, accountability and fairness – especially when it influences decisions that affect people’s health and care.
Research commissioned by the NHS AI Lab found that people perceived several benefits of using AI in healthcare. These include increased precision, reliability, cost effectiveness, and time saved.
Excerpt from the official page. The original is authoritative. Continue reading at UK NICE ↗