Challenges and opportunities for using AI to help people with disabilities

Videos from conference sponsored by Regenstrief, Harvard and Stanford now available online

Regenstrief Institute, Harvard University and Stanford School of Medicine hosted an online conference exploring the opportunities for leveraging artificial intelligence to improve the lives of people with disabilities and dependencies, and the entire discussion is now available for free online.

AI has potential for both positive and negative impacts on those with disabilities. Legal scholars, ethicists, AI developers, clinicians and people living with disabilities and dependencies discussed best practices and guidelines for stakeholders, articulating clear criteria for developers and medical providers who want to use AI technology to improve lives.

Regenstrief Vice President for Research Development Eneida Mendonca, M.D., PhD, helped to organize this conference. Dr. Mendonca also is a professor at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Regenstrief Researcher Noll Campbell, PharmD, participated in the conference’s panel on AI and disability. Dr. Campbell, also an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Purdue University College of Pharmacy, is a geriatric pharmacotherapy expert. He spoke about how data used to create and train AI models may actually not help populations with certain disabilities, such as dementia, and in fact may actually cause unintended consequences.

The webinar was sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School; the Harvard Law School Project on Disability (HPOD); the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University; the Regenstrief Institute; and the Presence at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.

Watch the entire conference here.