By Jason Tucker, The Loop
The promise of revolutionary advances in healthcare is now a key pillar of the EU’s AI strategy. Jason Tucker explores how the effects of EU healthcare tooling in the AI race do not bode well for reducing EU political legitimacy
Enabling healthcare in the EU’s AI strategy
In the recent European Commission AI First policy, the potential for regional investments in artificial intelligence (AI) to improve healthcare features is very apparent. More broadly, as a means of ensuring public and political participation, the EU has instrumentalized healthcare as a model for its AI policy.
The outlook for the future of public health in the EU is cold. Health care systems have been weakened by underfunding, worker shortages, and profound demographic and public health changes. The result is significant health inequalities within Member States and across the region. In this context, the promise of addressing systemic challenges and improving public health has great resonance.
The EU has linked its AI policy ambitions closely to the healthcare sector. But in doing so, it risks further undermining its already shaky democratic legitimacy. Regardless of the outcome, the prognosis is worrisome. If the initiative fails, the EU may be scapegoated by member states that are unable to provide adequate healthcare. If successful, EU healthcare systems could become an even more important target in the escalating geopolitical battle for AI supremacy.
Health and democracy
Often overlooked, health care plays a fundamental role in shaping democratic legitimacy and the relationship between citizens and the state. And unlike many other areas of government activity, health care is globally relevant. We all need health care throughout our lives, whether we choose to access it or not.
EU claims AI will not just save healthcare systems, but tackle the root causes of public health challenges
Public healthcare systems are a primary point of interaction between individuals and the state. When these systems are inadequate or inaccessible, it significantly erodes public trust in states. Similarly, poor public health management can reduce political legitimacy at national and regional levels.
So far, the EU has largely avoided denouncing Europe’s ailing healthcare system for fear of igniting a political powder keg. But a new EU narrative, promoting artificial intelligence as key to tackling the challenges faced by crumbling systems, could change that.
The recent EU industrial policy on artificial intelligence promises transformative high-speed developments. One justification for this policy is the improvements that AI advances promise for healthcare services. The EU claims AI will not just save healthcare systems, but tackle the root causes of public health challenges as well as deliver personalized healthcare.
Promises and Pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare
The reality is far from that. Artificial intelligence in healthcare can improve some health sectors, for some people, but always at the expense of others. Indeed, unless carefully controlled, states have little say in how such technology benefits societybecause it exists largely in the hands of the private sector. The interests of the market and those of public health are not naturally aligned.
States have little control over how AI developments benefit healthcare because this technology exists largely in the hands of the private sector
Research it also shows poor returns on our investments. Applying AI in clinical settings faces a myriad of challenges, and the hype surrounding some AI models diverts scarce resources from approaches that work well. THE World Health Organization has warned that the (albeit limited) positive effects of AI in healthcare can only be realized if there is a broad, well-funded public healthcare system to support its adoption. Innovation is all well and good, but adoption is a major sticking point.
Given the rhetoric of high-speed transformation surrounding the potential of AI, its failure to improve the everyday healthcare experiences of EU citizens will not go unnoticed for long. People care deeply about health care. Waiting times, access to services and quality of care matter. If AI is not proven to deliver tangible healthcare benefits, and quickly, the EU risks an increasingly unhappy and increasingly unhealthy population. This is bad news for the EU’s political legitimacy and could further fuel the rise Euroscepticism supported by top-down EU policies. The EU will quickly become a useful scapegoat for AI’s failure to boost Europe’s ailing healthcare systems.
Health AI in the geopolitical crosshairs
On the other hand, if the EU manages to achieve significant improvements in healthcare using artificial intelligence, new challenges emerge. Healthcare is already a primary focus cyber attacks in the EU (and worldwide), more than any other critical sector. As argued by Marietje Schaake, of the E.U digital exception frames attacks in digital space as an acceptable part of a geopolitical technological struggle, despite its devastating real-world effects on the health of EU citizens.
Healthcare, however, is increasingly important as a barometer of the EU’s position in the AI race. As such, the success of its AI industrial policy will further focus the geopolitical spotlight on the sector. The EU’s fragmented approach to AI adoption makes it vulnerable to attack. And the region’s weak digital dominance means digital healthcare systems are relatively easy pickings for malicious actors looking to disrupt the EU’s AI ambitions. There is also the possibility of armed interdependence if the EU appears to threaten US interests in artificial intelligence. This is worrying because the EU healthcare sector is heavily dependent on US big tech for its digital infrastructure.
Healthcare cyber-attacks do not just threaten healthcare, they destabilize international security
THE WHERE has argued that healthcare cyberattacks not only threaten healthcare, but destabilize international security. If the EU makes substantial progress on AI in healthcare, this creates increasing economic and political incentives to disrupt it. This progress also increases the demand for the EU to react accordingly, protect its interests and maintain its political legitimacy as a security actor. The boundaries of the EU’s digital exemption may therefore shrink.
An alarming prospect
By putting healthcare at the heart of its AI strategy, the EU is taking a high-stakes bet. It has positioned AI as a solution to systemic public health challenges and as a symbol of geopolitical significance.
But while the appeal of using AI to revolutionize healthcare is strong, the reality is much more limited. Failure to deliver tangible improvements risks eroding public trust – not only in healthcare systems, but also in the EU’s wider democratic programs and security agenda. Additionally, AI being so closely linked to healthcare increases the industry’s exposure to geopolitical threats and cyberattacks. Win or lose, the EU could find itself either weakening its democratic legitimacy or putting Europeans’ healthcare at the forefront of a geopolitical battle for which the region is ill-prepared.
This article originally published on The Loop and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
—
Sign up for The Good Men Project newsletter
(function($) { window.fnames = []; window.ftypes = []; fnames[0]=’EMAIL’; ftypes[0]=’email’; })(jQuery); var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);
If you believe in the work we do here at The Good Men Project, join us as a Premium Member today.
All Premium members can watch The Good Men Project ADS-free.
Need more information? A full list of benefits is here.
—
Photo source: iStock
The post The EU’s AI Gamble With Healthcare appeared first on The Good Men Project.
