AI ETHICS COMMITTEES AND

HEALTHCARE
PROF. DR. GUILHERME FORMA KLAFKE
BRUNEL CENTRE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: SOCIAL & DIGITAL INNOVATIONS
NOVEMBER 2, 2022
ABOUT ME

Guilherme Klafke is professor of the Specialization program at

the São Paulo Law School of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV
Direito SP). He is also a project leader at the Center for Teaching
and Research on Innovation (CEPI) of the same institution,
where he leads digital health, artificial intelligence, data
protection, and innovation projects. He holds a Ph.D. (2019) and
a Master’s (2012-2015) degree in Constitutional Law from the
University of São Paulo. He also researches Constitutional Law,
Constitutional Jurisdiction, Legal Education, Participatory
Education, Digital Human Rights, and Philosophy of Law.
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
• Research: Governance in Artificial Intelligence (AI):
framework for the creation of AI Ethics Committees
• Method: combination of systematic literature review
(PRISMA protocol), case studies, and discussions in study
groups.
• Funded by DASA, B3 (Brazilian stock exchange), Hub
Mandic and FICO
https://osf.io/pr5fx
OUR TALK

1.Why should organizations have an AI

Ethics Committee?
2.Which are the most important questions
regarding AI Ethics Committees?
3.Committees in healthcare in Brazil
OUR TALK

1.Why should organizations have an AI

Ethics Committee?
2.Which are the most important questions
regarding AI Ethics Committees?
3.Committees in healthcare in Brazil
GOVERNANCE,

FLORIDI, L. Soft Ethics and the Governance of the Digital. Philos.

Technol. 31, 1–8, 2018.
ETHICS AND
REGULATION OF AI MORAL
DIGITAL GOVERNANCE
COMPLIANCE
EVALUATION

DIGITAL DIGITAL
ETHICS REGULATION

GOVERNANCE OF
INFOSPHERE
 MODEL OF
THE THREE LINE

ORGANIZATIONS
GOVERNANCE IN

World Economic Forum. Empowering AI Leadership: AI C-Suite Toolkit, 2022, p. 61. Available at:
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Empowering_AI_Leadership_2022.pdf
THE PUSH TOWARDS AI ETHICS COMMITTEES
THE PUSH TOWARDS AI
ETHICS COMMITTEES
THE PUSH TOWARDS AI
ETHICS COMMITTEES
Establishing governance practices. [General Forum on Oversight of
Artificial Intelligence] participants provided various examples of
governance practices […] Participants also noted the importance of
establishing an oversight and ethics committee involving
multidisciplinary stakeholders, both internal and external to the entity,
throughout an AI system’s development to ensure that societal concerns
are considered. Some organizations represented on the panel have
established committees as a method to address potential societal
concerns. According to participants, these committees should include
stakeholders from across the entity—legal, policymakers, developers, as
well as top executives from all divisions—to ensure appropriate
development, deployment, and application of the AI system.
- GAO. Artificial Intelligence: An Accountability Framework for Federal Agencies and Other Entities. June
2021. Available at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-519sp.pdf.
THE PUSH TOWARDS AI
ETHICS COMMITTEES
Establishing governance practices. [General Forum on Oversight of
Artificial Intelligence] participants provided various examples of
governance practices […] Participants also noted the importance of
establishing an oversight and ethics committee involving
multidisciplinary stakeholders, both internal and external to the entity,
throughout an AI system’s development to ensure that societal concerns
are considered. Some organizations represented on the panel have
established committees as a method to address potential societal
concerns. According to participants, these committees should include
stakeholders from across the entity—legal, policymakers, developers, as
well as top executives from all divisions—to ensure appropriate
development, deployment, and application of the AI system.
- GAO. Artificial Intelligence: An Accountability Framework for Federal Agencies and Other Entities. June
2021. Available at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-519sp.pdf.
 ADVANTAGES OF AN AI ETHICS COMMITTEE
Epistemic Diversity of perspectives (e.g. about risks, societal concerns)
Specialized body and case-law
Standardization of procedures (e.g. templates)
Education Creation of guidelines, principles and standards

Spread ethical awareness inside the organization

Safety and Monitoring of the development and deployment of AI systems

responsibilities
Better balancing between innovation and responsibility
Expert advice to others bodies and boards
 Google today disclosed that it has dissolved a short-lived, external
PROBLEMS AND advisory board designed to monitor its use of artificial intelligence,
following a week of controversy regarding the company’s selection of
“ETHICS members. The decision, reported first today by Vox, is largely due to
outcry over the board’s inclusion of Heritage Foundation president Kay
WASHING” Coles James, a noted conservative figure who has openly espoused anti-
LGBTQ rhetoric and, through the Heritage Foundation, fought efforts to
extend rights to transgender individuals and to combat climate change.
[…]
The makeup of the board faced fierce backlash the same day it was
announced, and that backlash only intensified both within and outside
the company in the following days. Google gave no insight into how it
chose its members. But the decision may have been influenced by a
desire to appease Republican lawmakers and to curry favor in the
event of regulation around AI research and its application in real-world
products and services.
- STATT, NICK. Google dissolves AI ethics board just one week after forming it. The Verge, 2019. Available
at: https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/4/18296113/google-ai-ethics-board-ends-controversy-kay-coles-james-
heritage-foundation
OUR TALK

1.Why should organizations have an AI

Ethics Committee?
2.Which are the most important questions
regarding AI Ethics Committees?
3.Committees in healthcare in Brazil
SHOULD AN ORGANIZATION CHOOSE AN AI
ETHICS COMMITTEE INSTEAD OF OTHER OPTIONS?

Governance bodies

Individual Collective External

New or pre-existing
New or pre-existing New or pre-existing New or pre-existing
positions and roles
positions and roles bodies not related bodies related to AI Audit
not related to AI
related to AI ethics to AI ethics ethics
ethics

Risk committees,
At the organization
Ombudsman, DPO At the team level steering bodies, AI Ethics AI Ethics
level (e.g. Chief AI
etc. (e.g. AI Ethicist) administrative Committees Workgroups
Ethics Officer)
boards etc.
SHOULD AN ORGANIZATION CHOOSE AN AI
ETHICS COMMITTEE INSTEAD OF OTHER OPTIONS?

Governance bodies

Individual Collective External

New or pre-existing
New or pre-existing New or pre-existing New or pre-existing
positions and roles
positions and roles bodies not related bodies related to AI Audit
not related to AI
related to AI ethics to AI ethics ethics
ethics

Risk committees,
At the organization
Ombudsman, DPO At the team level steering bodies, AI Ethics AI Ethics
level (e.g. Chief AI
etc. (e.g. AI Ethicist) administrative Committees Workgroups
Ethics Officer)
boards etc.
QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
Research: Governance in Artificial Intelligence (AI): framework for the creation of AI Ethics Committees
Method: combination of systematic literature review (PRISMA protocol), case studies, and discussions in
study groups.
Funded by DASA, B3 (Brazilian stock exchange), Hub Mandic and FICO

Members selection,
number of members, Composition
remuneration etc.
Prevention, education,
Goals repression, norm
creation etc.
Which powers? Powers
Powers and
on who? Powers on AI Ethics Committees
competence
what?
Internal or external,
Structure
formal or informal etc.
Pre-decisional
procedures, decisional
Decision-making
procedures and post-
decisional procedures
OUR TALK

1.Why should organizations have an AI

Ethics Committee?
2.Which are the most important questions
regarding AI Ethics Committees?
3.Committees in healthcare in Brazil
AI ETHICS BODIES IN
HEALTHCARE
Policy Area 11: Health and Social Well-Being
123. Member States should pay particular attention
in regulating prediction, detection and treatment
solutions for health care in AI applications by: (a)
ensuring oversight to minimize and mitigate bias;(b)
ensuring that the professional, the patient, caregiver or
service user is included as a “domain expert” in the
team in all relevant steps when developing the
algorithms; […] (f) ensuring, where necessary, the
review of AI systems by an ethical research committee
prior to clinical use.
- UNESCO. Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. November 2021. Available at:
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381137.
MANDATORY AND OPTIONAL BODIES IN
HEALTHCARE IN BRAZIL
Mandatory bodies Optional bodies
• Medical Ethics Committee (Resolution of • Bioethics Committee
the Federal Council of Medicine nº 2.152/2016)
• Biosafety Committee
• Research Ethics Committee (
Resolution nº 196/96 on research involving human subj • Ethics Committee on the Use of
ects
) Animals
• Medical Record Review Committee • Humanization [of care] Committee
(Resolution of the Federal Council of Medicine nº
1.638/2002)
• Palliative Care Committee
• Other committees (Internal Commission on
Accident Prevention, Infection Control
Committee)
QUESTION: WOULD AN AI ETHICS COMMITTEE
OVERLAP OTHER COMMITTES? IS IT NECESSARY?

Overlap: research and Overlap: monitoring

development of AI Medical and orientation of
systems based on Ethics medical conducts and
Committee protocols regarding
personal data or
profile of individual the use of AI systems
Research
Ethics
AI Ethics to the medical
Committee Committee decision-making

Bioethics
Committee
Overlap: ethics orientation and
guidelines of medical conducts and
protocols regarding the use of AI
systems
THANK YOU!
LINKEDIN: GUILHERME FORMA KLAFKE
GUILHERME.KLAFKE@FGV.BR