The American Medical Association (AMA) this week called for requiring physician consent for some uses of artificial intelligence as it released its recommended principles for the use of AI in medicine.
"The AMA recognizes the immense potential of health care AI in enhancing diagnostic accuracy, treatment outcomes, and patient care," said AMA President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, in a statement. "However, this transformative power comes with ethical considerations and potential risks that demand a proactive and principled approach to the oversight and governance of health care AI."
The AMA said health plans should seek to use AI to simplify administrative tasks and reduce workflow burdens. There's potential for AI-enabled technologies tocut down on paperwork, but they may "not be designed or supervised effectively, creating access barriers for patients and limiting essential benefits."
The AMA principles also noted that physicians could face increased risks for liability when they rely on AI-enabled tools and systems sold with little transparency about data and algorithms underpinning these products.
AMA said it will advocate to ensure that physician liability for the use of AI-enabled technologies is limited and adheres to current approaches to medical malpractice, even as legal theory about liability and accountability in this field evolves.
