A report commissioned by the British National Health Service (NHS) concluded that AI-based medical products should be strictly regulated. Unsafe and ineffective methods and treatments developed through AI should be banned from use while approved products should still be licensed and monitored after it passes muster.
Here is an excerpt from a report published in Pharmaphorum:
…the report commissioned by the NHS has found AI is unlikely to replace clinicians “for the foreseeable future” and that doctors should instead be trained in data science as well as medicine.
The report made seven recommendations – with the first being that “politicians and policymakers should avoid thinking that AI is going to solve all the problems” facing the UK health system.
Patient safety must be regulated, and the doctors of the future will need to be well versed in using AI technology. Data should be shared more widely among those who meet information and governance standards, and it should be for the government to decide how widely it is shared.
There is also a need for “joined up regulation” and providers of AI services should be regulated like every other healthcare product. “As with the pharmaceutical industry, licensing and post-market surveillance are critical and methods should be developed to remove unsafe systems,” report authors said. AI should be used to reduce, not increase health inequality, the report added.
