In January, right before President Biden took office, the Food and Drug Administration proposed permanently exempting “software as a medical device” from regulatory review. The agency waived the approval process last year to streamline regulatory oversight during the Covid emergency. But the growing use of artificial intelligence programs and digital devices in health care raises safety and ethical concerns that require more attention. The Biden administration put the proposal on hold for now. Meanwhile, bioethicists should weigh in as the FDA reviews its action plan.

Science has replaced populism in the White House. For the first time, the president's science advisor will be elevated to cabinet rank. There are other good omens, as well.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to reduce inequities in health care and even help restore empathy to the doctor-patient relationship—if, and only if, key ethical barriers are addressed and opportunities grasped. That was Eric Topol’s overarching message at The Hastings Center’s 50th ...

Gretchen Greene, an internationally recognized expert on artificial intelligence policy and ethics, including face and emotion recognition, has been named a senior advisor to The Hastings Center. 

As artificial intelligence transforms health care, what should be done to assure that it brings about improvements and greater equity? To address those questions, Hastings Center President Mildred Solomon joined a panel at the Aspen Ideas: Health Festival called “Ethical Artificial Intelligence: Oxymoron or Possibility?”

The creation of humanlike intelligence in a nonbiological being would be the greatest achievement in human history. Many experts believe this will happen within decades. What role should, or could, regulatory bodies play?

A major international project at The Hastings Center released policy recommendations for the development of artificial intelligence and robotics to help reap the benefits and productivity gains and minimize the risks and undesirable social consequences.

Artificial intelligence and robotics are beginning to transform nearly every sector and facet of modern life. While the benefits and expected benefits could be vast, there are also concerns about privacy, accountability, transparency, biases, safety,  and other issues. How can we reap the benefits o...

That was one of the many questions explored at a public event at the New York Academy of Sciences on May 21, cosponsored by The Hastings Center, the Aspen Brain Institute and the New York Academy of Sciences. “The Enhanced Human: Risks and Opportunities” examined existing and emerging enhancemen...

Artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces could revolutionize the treatment of paralysis, schizophrenia, and more. But these neurotechnologies must respect and preserve people’s privacy, identity, agency, and equality, states an article in the journal Nature, whose authors include H...