Ethical consideration for the use of AI in nuclear medicine

Impact summary

Developed the first guidelines and framework for artificial intelligence in nuclear medicine which were later adopted in full as the ethical guidelines for AI by the European Association of Nuclear Medicine in their 2022 position paper. Together with this ethics work I also reframed the social asymmetry associated with AI. This constitutes 3 Q1 publications

Research outputs associated with the impact

Currie, G, Hawk KE, Rohren E 2020, Ethical Principles for the Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, vol. 47; no. 4: pp. 748-752.

Currie, G & Hawk KE 2021, Ethical and legal challenges of artificial intelligence in nuclear medicine, Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, vol. 51; pp. 120-125: https://doi.org/10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2020.08.001

Currie, G, Rohren, E 2022, Social asymmetry, artificial intelligence and the medical imaging landscape, Seminars in nuclear medicine, invited, ahead of print, https://doi.org/10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2021.11.011

Researcher involvement

Wrote the ethical guidelines

Outcomes of research leading to impact

These principles were endorsed and adopted in full as the ethical guidelines for AI by the European Association of Nuclear Medicine in their 2022 position paper. "Currie et al. have recently proposed a set of ethical standards to be followed when evaluating and developing AI in NM as listed in Table 1 [22]. The EANM fully embraces these principles, which are applicable to any medical speciality that will employ AI as part of its clinical practice in the future. We believe they constitute a solid and necessary framework within which AI can be incorporated into nuclear medicine." (EANM, 2022)

Beneficiaries of the impact

Nuclear medicine community and patients globally.

Details of the impact achieved

The impact is probably best highlighted in my own papers where I describe the AI landscape in nuclear medicine. There were no ethical frameworks to guide implementation and use. AI happened so fast with so much hype it was just done and rolled out without those guidelines. It wasn’t a matter of what should be done with AI (as it is now), it was what can be done. So the guidelines provided a framework into which professional organisations and professionals could consider their AI work. It goes beyond EANM. In nuclear medicine, much of what is done across the globe are driven by either EANM in Europe or SNMMI in USA (and often both combine to develop guidelines). I am on the SNMMI AI Taskforce and suggested developing the guidelines but everyone was more interested in focussing on novel applications. So I developed them with 2 prominent colleagues in the AI space and submitted them to EANM journal and the second commentary in Seminars in NM; both Q1 journals. The main implication is that the guidelines, as a framework, protect our patients and our profession.

Impact date	25 Aug 2022
Category of impact	Public policy Impact
Impact level	International