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The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare has resulted in a gap of understanding in how AI can best serve Indigenous people
Research from Australia’s national science agency together with Indigenous partner organisations has found a critical need to build responsible AI systems that include Indigenous knowledge and data.
Dr Andrew Goodman, Aboriginal man from Iningai Country in Western Queensland and CSIRO Research Scientist and lead author, said this oversight in AI design must be addressed in order to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Dr Andrew Goodman believes their findings clearly show how current approaches to AI use in healthcare lack detailed information on cultural diversity, which results in a gap in understanding of how AI can serve Indigenous peoples.
“AI isn’t intelligent. It’s totally reliant on the data it’s trained on and the algorithmic lens that’s applied to it,” Dr Goodman told InSight+.
“If AI is to benefit our mob, it must reflect our voices, our data and our ways of knowing. Without Indigenous-led governance there’s a real risk that AI will perpetuate bias and repeat the mistakes of the past.”
“If we put Eurocentric deficit-based data into the synthetic system, then you’re going to get a very deficit-based conclusion out.”
To address this inherent AI bias, Dr Goodman and his co-authors spoke to 53 participants, including executive leaders, service managers, researchers, administrators, and information technologists who shared their perspectives on AI and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care. They then identified three top priorities, to ensure the safe and effective use of AI is guided by Indigenous voices and knowledges.
“The first being AI health literacy and appropriateness. Namely, our partners want to make informed decisions of how AI may be applied within their organisations and their value systems,” he said.
“Secondly, was considerations of Indigenous data sovereignty and Indigenous data governance. That AI learning models are trained with an Indigenous lens to account for the diverse needs of community, that AI algorithms and learning models mitigate Eurocentric biases and deficit data discourse as it relates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. And that access to Indigenous data should be structured to ensure Indigenous controlled review and regular evaluation processes.”
“And finally, our third top priority was the self-determination of AI development and implementation. Essentially, our partners want to be in the driver’s seat. They want to ensure that it’s done in the appropriate way and the right guardrails are up in place so that they can utilise it in a culturally safe and relevant and most impactful way.”
Dr Goodman said while these are early findings, the Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare in Australian Indigenous Communities: Scoping Project to Explore Relevance report provides a critical starting point for how to build responsible AI systems in technology such as apps and data collection that would embed cultural knowledge in the heart of the design of AI systems.
The project was co-led by CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre (AEHRC) in partnership with the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS Brisbane), the Centre of Excellence for Aboriginal Digital in Health (CEADH), and the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet.
The team will use the findings from the scoping project to co-design self-determined AI tools in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Nance Haxton was a journalist at the ABC for nearly 20 years. She’s also worked as an Advocate at the Disability Royal Commission helping people with disabilities tell their stories and as a senior reporter for the National Indigenous Radio Service.
In that time she’s won a range of Australian and international honours, including two Walkley Awards, and three New York Festivals Radio Awards trophies.
Now freelancing as The Wandering Journo, Nance is independently producing podcasts including her personal audio slice of Australia “Streets of Your Town”.
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