The lab is housed at UvA’s Law for Health and Life and is led by Julia van Weert (health communication) and Anniek de Ruijter (health law). ‘We are proud to lead this collaboration between law, communication science, AI, health care and community engagement,’ said de Ruijter. ‘With this lab, we want to ensure that equity in the application of AI in healthcare is a core value.’

Van Weert stresses the importance of legal guidance: ‘To create AI that truly benefits all groups in society, and especially the most vulnerable, we need legal clarity, inclusive design, good communication and trust. This lab gives us the opportunity to unite diverse perspectives around one shared goal: equitable care.

Diverse expertise

The team includes researchers from various disciplines, including: data science, ethics, psychology and healthcare. Partners include Amsterdam UMC, the Free University (VU), Utrecht University (and the ELSA Lab AI for Low Literacy), Radboud University, the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) and civil society organizations such as Stichting Gezondheid Allochtonen Nederland (SGAN) Stichting MIND, Ben Sajet Centrum, Vilans, Koninklijke Auris, Centre for Urban Mental Health, Amsterdam AI and GGD Amsterdam, as well as private partners, such as ITSLanguage, Syntho and Studio OOK.

Importance of AI for healthcare

AI can improve health care, but there is also a risk that existing inequities could be exacerbated. AI systems trained with limited data sets could underperform for diverse populations.

The ELSA Lab is identifying these problems and developing solutions for an inclusive digital health infrastructure. This will take into account existing regulations, such as the AVG, and create guidelines to make AI fairer.

Transparency and accessibility

A key component is transparency in AI development. Databases must be representative, and AI technologies accessible and understandable to healthcare providers and patients.