On November 12th, 2024, St. Anne’s College, Oxford, hosted the “Auditing Accountability in Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence with Applications in Personalised Medicine” workshop. This dynamic event united practitioners, stakeholders and research leaders across healthcare, computer science, policy, law, ethics, and social sciences. Organised by the Governance of Emerging Technologies Team and the Oxford Centre for Personalised Medicine, the workshop aimed to address the pressing challenges associated with evaluating and implementing trustworthy AI in personalised medicine.
The day opened with thought-provoking keynote presentations from Matthias Braun (University of Bonn) and Anja Thieme (Microsoft Research Cambridge) who explored the ethical and technical challenges of human-centered AI with applications in radiology. A lively panel discussion followed, featuring Chris Russell, Andrew Soltan, Anja Thieme, and Barbara Prainsack, who examined the technical hurdles of applying AI in real-world scenarios. The session, moderated by Kai Rawal, provided a platform for robust interdisciplinary dialogue. The subsequent sessions investigated the intersection of AI, ethics, and fairness. Angeliki Kerasidou (University of Oxford) offered an engaging exploration of trust and expertise in AI-assisted healthcare. You can watch the recording here. Barbara Prainsack (University of Vienna) contextualized personalised and precision medicine within the digital age, emphasizing the need for humanistic approaches, broader accountability, and stronger public value orientation of AI alongside technological advances. You can watch the recording here.
Following lunch, the technical challenges of implementing fairness in machine learning were considered with talks from Timothy Hospedales (Samsung Research and University of Edinburgh) and Eoin Delaney (University of Oxford), who introduced the OxonFair fairness toolkit. Next, a captivating panel discussion on AI ethics and law brought together Ignacio Cofone, Matthias Braun, and Mirjam Plantinga, and was expertly moderated by Sandra Wachter. The dialogue underscored the need for robust legal frameworks and ethical considerations in deploying AI systems. The workshop concluded with a keynote from Zachary Lipton (Abridge and CMU), who shared insights into the technical challenges tackled by Abridge in revolutionizing healthcare through AI. The day closed on a convivial note with a drinks reception, fostering further collaboration, and a delightful dinner hosted by St. Anne’s College for speakers and organizers.
This workshop served as a testament to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration in navigating the complexities of trustworthy AI in personalised medicine. The conversations and insights shared will undoubtedly shape the future of AI in healthcare, ensuring it remains both innovative and ethically grounded.