Ethical considerations for artificial intelligence in dermatology

a scoping review

Gordon, Emily R Conceptualization; Data curation; Writing - original draft
Trager, Megan H Conceptualization; Data curation; Writing - original draft
Kontos, Despina Investigation; Writing - review & editing
Weng, Chunhua Writing - review & editing
Geskin, Larisa J Writing - review & editing
Dugdale, Lydia S Writing - review & editing
Samie, Faramarz H Conceptualization; Data curation; Writing - original draft

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Departments of Dermatology
University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Radiology
Biomedical Informatics, New York, NY, USA
Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Departments of Dermatology
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Department of Medicine, Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, New York, NY, USA
Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Departments of Dermatology

Correspondence: Faramarz H. Samie. Email: [email protected]

E.R.G. and M.H.T. contributed equally to this manuscript

Conflicts of interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Received October 16, 2023

Received in revised form December 26, 2023

Accepted January 23, 2024

Revised March 04, 2024

This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/pages/standard-publication-reuse-rights)

British Journal of Dermatology 190(6):p 789-797, June 2024. | DOI: 10.1093/bjd/ljae040

Lay Summary

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in dermatology is rapidly increasing, with applications in dermatopathology, medical dermatology, cutaneous surgery, microscopy/spectroscopy and the identification of prognostic biomarkers (characteristics that provide information on likely patient health outcomes). However, with the rise of AI in dermatology, ethical concerns have emerged.

We reviewed the existing literature to identify applications of AI in the field of dermatology and understand the ethical implications. Our search initially identified 202 papers, and after we went through them (screening), 68 were included in our review. We found that ethical concerns are related to the use of AI in the areas of clinical image analysis, teledermatology, natural language processing models, privacy, skin of colour representation, and patient and provider attitudes toward AI.

We identified nine ethical principles to facilitate the safe use of AI in dermatology. These ethical principles include fairness, inclusivity, transparency, accountability, security, privacy, reliability, informed consent and conflict of interest. Although there are many benefits of integrating AI into clinical practice, our findings highlight how safeguards must be put in place to reduce rising ethical concerns.