Artificial intelligence in healthcare: Threats to the fundamental values of our society

Summary

The article deals with the ethical and legal aspects of the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. The author analyses key threats to the fundamental values held by the majority of democratic society and the human rights guaranteed by international human rights treaties, such as the European Convention on Human Rights. Emphasis is placed, in particular, on the risk of restricting patients’ autonomy due to an insufficient regulation of the use of clinical decision-support systems, a lack of humanistic care due to excessive use of care robots, a decline in human skills in specific fields of medicine, such as radiology, and the violation of privacy by extensive surveillance of social media. The article provides an overview of the benefits of artificial intelligence for healthcare, but also warns of the downsides, with the aim to encourage a debate that would lead to reasonable legal regulation.