2021 Responsible Machine Learning Summit: AI anD Social Good
Neha Kumar, Associate Professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs & School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Tech
Human-Centered Design of Artificial Intelligence Systems for Frontline Health
Abstract: There has been growing interest in the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in frontline health, motivated by a shortage of skilled medical experts and medical equipment, particularly in the Global South. The global COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the potential for these efforts, but also their many limitations. AI systems can increase the work burden on frontline health workers, many of whom are women already engaged in underpaid and invisible care and data work. Our research examines the AI for Global Health discourse through an extensive literature review of 347 papers on ongoing AI efforts in this space. Our analysis uncovers the gaps in current efforts, and opportunities for design, while centering the perspectives of frontline health workers. We draw on data from three years of ethnographic fieldwork conducted with women frontline health workers and women from underserved communities in Delhi (India). Finally, we distill lessons from literature on Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D), post-development critiques, and transnational feminist theory to present an agenda for AI efforts that target “social good”, more broadly.
Biosketch: Neha Kumar is an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she conducts research at the intersection of human-centred computing and global development. In recent years, her research has investigated the role of mobile technologies in global health, with a focus on challenges around data, stigma, and gender. At Georgia Tech, she leads the TanDEm (short for Technology and Design towards “Empowerment”) lab. She currently serves as president of ACM SIGCHI.