AI code of conduct, NPR discussion, embryo screening, digital humans
April 11, 2024
Draft Code of Conduct for AI is Released Submit public comment.
A draft code of conduct for artificial intelligence in health, health care, and biomedical science was released this week by the National Academy of Medicine’s AI Code of Conduct initiative; Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky is on the steering committee. The paper outlines a framework for stakeholders from various disciplines to align and harness the benefits of AI, while also safeguarding against potential harms. Read the draft AI Code of Conduct.
Next steps: National Academy of Medicine is soliciting public comment on the draft to incorporate into the final publication. Submit comments here.
Ravitsky on NPR's "All Things Considered" Discusses ethics of artificial wombs.
Scientists around the world are testing artificial wombs. “I am absolutely pro that technology because I think it has great potential to save babies,” said Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky in an interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered” yesterday. She discussed ethical and legal questions raised by artificial wombs, including the implications for a pregnant person’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy and the prospect of one day using artificial wombs to gestate an entire pregnancy, rendering human wombs obsolete. Listen to the interview.
Promise and Peril of Selecting Our Children's Fate Register for Harvard-Museum of Science webinar.
Recent advances in genetic screening have made the science fiction allure of choosing our children’s traits ever more possible. Fertility clinics are offering technologies that allow prospective parents to screen embryos before implantation to see how likely each one is to develop conditions or traits such as schizophrenia, Crohn’s disease, and even high IQs. Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky will discuss the promise and peril of such screening on Friday, April 19, at an event in the Biotechnology and Society Webinar Series hosted in collaboration with Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics and the Museum of Science in Boston. Learn more and register.
Digital Humans Designed to Combat Loneliness and Social Isolation Experts raise concerns and make policy recommendations.
Replika is an AI chatbot marketed with the tagline “The AI companion who cares.” Can AI companions ease social isolation and loneliness, growing concerns around the globe that put people at increased risk of disease and early death? Four bioethicists, writing in the Hastings Center Report, consider evidence and ethical arguments for and against digital human companions and propose policy recommendations to address five areas of concern: the prospect of AI companions replacing humans, establishing inferior relationships, perpetuating social biases, entrenching health disparities, and threatening data privacy. Read the essay.
Polygenic Embryo Screening: The Promise and Perils of Selecting our Children's Traits, a webinar featuring Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky, Boston Museum of Science and Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics. April 19.
Demystifying Medicine, a National Institutes of Health videocast with Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky. May 7.
World Congress of Bioethics, Hastings Center President Vardit Ravitsky will make a presentation. June 3.
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