Open AccessEthical Considerations in the Advent of Artificial Intelligence in Otolaryngology
Author(s) -
Arambula Alexandra M.,
Bur Andrés M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
otolaryngology–head and neck surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1097-6817
pISSN - 0194-5998
DOI - 10.1177/0194599819889686
Subject(s) - beneficence , autonomy , otorhinolaryngology , health care , economic justice , engineering ethics , warrant , field (mathematics) , psychology , nursing , medicine , medical education , engineering , political science , business , law , psychiatry , mathematics , finance , pure mathematics
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly expanding within the sphere of health care, offering the potential to enhance the efficiency of care delivery, diminish costs, and reduce diagnostic and therapeutic errors. As the field of otolaryngology also explores use of AI technology in patient care, a number of ethical questions warrant attention prior to widespread implementation of AI. This commentary poses many of these ethical questions for consideration by the otolaryngologist specifically, using the 4 pillars of medical ethics—autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice—as a framework and advocating both for the assistive role of AI in health care and for the shared decision‐making, empathic approach to patient care.