January 24th 2024
In modern society, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into business as usual is becoming increasingly prevalent. In many human endeavours people are using AI and exploring its potential: the social care community is no exception. The Digital Care Hub, the Institute for Ethics in AI and Reuben College at the University of Oxford, and Casson Consulting, are co-hosting an AI roundtable event on 1st February 2024 to discuss this very topic.
The event will bring together senior leaders from across the social care and technology sectors, academics, regulators and people with lived and living experience of social care to explore the principles and guidelines for the use of generative AI in social care.
The initiative
The primary objective of the event is to articulate a collective understanding of generative AI’s role in social care settings. The roundtable will serve as a platform for influential leaders to engage in discussions regarding the challenges, potential benefits, and viable use cases of generative AI.
Understanding challenges
They will explore the intricacies of some of the challenges posed, and will be encouraged to scrutinise the ethical considerations, potential biases, and privacy concerns associated with the deployment of AI in social care.
Katie Thorn, Project Lead at Digital Care Hub, emphasises the importance of addressing these challenges, stating,
“In integrating generative AI into social care, we must confront ethical dilemmas head-on. The roundtable will provide a unique opportunity to foster a collective approach to navigate these challenges responsibly.”
Exploring benefits and use cases
The discussion also aims to explore the benefits and use cases that AI can offer in social care, particularly in enhancing care and streamlining administrative burdens. Daniel Casson, a partner of Digital Care Hub, envisions the possibilities, noting,
“generative AI has the potential to create value for people receiving care, for care providers and for the health and care system as a whole: our discussions will focus on how to safely unlock this value to enhance the overall quality of care for people”.
Responsible use of AI
A crucial goal of the event will be to establish a shared position statement to be shared with stakeholders in social care on what responsible use of AI can look like in the sector. The roundtable will be an important stepping stone towards gaining a shared understanding regarding principles and guidelines that should govern the implementation of generative AI in care settings. Dr Caroline Green from the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford says,
“AI and generative AI in particular can potentially bring great benefits to people drawing on and providing social care, but only if this is done in a responsible way. Recently there have been many initiatives nationally and internationally to determine the ethical issues arising from the rapid development and widespread use of generative AI across society, but we are lagging with this in social care. This roundtable is an opportunity to work towards a shared understanding what ‘responsible use’ of generative AI in social care entails in order to leverage the benefits yet protect what high quality care means.”
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Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash
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