Ethical Implementation of Artificial Intelligence to Select Embryos in in Vitro Fertilization

Michael Anis Mihdi Afnan, Cynthia Rudin, Vincent Conitzer, Julian Savulescu, Abhishek Mishra, Yanhe Liu, Masoud Afnan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionResearchpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

AI has the potential to revolutionize many areas of healthcare. Radiology, dermatology, and ophthalmology are some of the areas most likely to be impacted in the near future, and they have received significant attention from the broader research community. But AI techniques are now also starting to be used in in vitro fertilization (IVF), in particular for selecting which embryos to transfer to the woman. The contribution of AI to IVF is potentially significant, but must be done carefully and transparently, as the ethical issues are significant, in part because this field involves creating new people. We first give a brief introduction to IVF and review the use of AI for embryo selection. We discuss concerns with the interpretation of the reported results from scientific and practical perspectives. We then consider the broader ethical issues involved. We discuss in detail the problems that result from the use of black-box methods in this context and advocate strongly for the use of interpretable models. Importantly, there have been no published trials of clinical effectiveness, a problem in both the AI and IVF communities, and we therefore argue that clinical implementation at this point would be premature. Finally, we discuss ways for the broader AI community to become involved to ensure scientifically sound and ethically responsible development of AI in IVF.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAIES 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages316-326
Number of pages11
ISBN (Electronic)978-145038473-5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jul 2021
Externally publishedYes
Event4th AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2021 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 19 May 202121 May 2021

Publication series

NameAIES 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society

Conference

Conference4th AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2021
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period19/05/2121/05/21

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