Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Is Healthcare AI Safe?

Dr Mark Nicholson, Reader in System Safety, Department of Computing, University of York

System Safety aims to prevent accidents and reduce risks associated with technologies employed in systems such as cars, aircraft and healthcare medical devices. Information systems such as electronic health records, provide information for clinician to make good patient care decisions.

System safety has had great success at ensuring software used in such systems benefits society and does not cause harm. For new systems safety is built in and for in-service systems effective safety risk management is undertaken. Disruption however comes in the form of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI offers a vast potential to improve system outcomes and enhance efficiency. In healthcare AI helps with diagnostics & early detection of diseases, offers new ways to create personalized medicine and treatment plans, supports the potential for robotic surgery, increases healthcare administration efficiency and supports access to mental health services. However, for AI to truly revolutionize healthcare, challenges like safety and ethics need to be addressed. In this talk we investigate AI safety for healthcare and the role of system safety in ensuring patient safety and providing a safety case. We show how the University of York is at the forefront of AI safety research.

Mark Nicholson is a Reader in System Safety in the Computer Science Department at the University of York. He has 30 years’ experience researching software safety and educating industrial practitioners in system safety. He has provided numerous courses in digital and AI safety to clinicians. He has authored a number of industrial standards including the current safety certification standard for large civil aircraft. He is a Director of the UK Safety-critical Systems Club.

For the last five years he has been part of the core technical team in a £12m programme sponsored by Llloyds register at the University of York. This programme has now become the Centre for Assuring Autonomy with a further £7m sponsorship. This centre includes a centre for doctoral training in AI safety that will eventually include more than 60 doctoral students.

7pm in the Tempest Anderson Lecture Theatre in the Yorkshire Museum