The idea of providing AI-powered primary health care (PHC) to every Indian within five years is ambitious. However, it raises concerns regarding the feasibility and ethical implications of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health care.

Limitations of AI in Health Care

• Lack of Human Intelligence: AI excels at repetitive tasks but lacks essential human qualities such as reasoning, empathy, and cultural understanding. Medicine requires more than just pattern recognition, and AI cannot replace human decision-making in complex medical situations.
• Impersonal Care: Relying on AI may turn patients into passive recipients rather than active participants in their own care. PHC must remain human-centric to be effective.

Data Challenges

• Incomplete and Scattered Data: Health-care data is often incomplete and inaccessible for AI models, making it difficult to train AI systems effectively. This problem is amplified by India’s diversity, where population-specific data is essential for accurate health predictions.
• Privacy Concerns: Collecting vast amounts of personal data raises ethical and privacy concerns. AI’s need for comprehensive data to improve accuracy conflicts with patients’ right to privacy.

AI’s Utility in Specific Tasks

• Narrow Intelligence: AI can be beneficial in narrow, well-defined tasks like managing biomedical waste, drug procurement, and screening histopathology slides.
• Educational Tools: Large Language Models (LLMs) and Multimodal Models (LMMs) can aid in medical education by simulating patient interactions and providing personalized learning experiences.

Ethical and Governance Issues

• Black Box Problem: AI’s decision-making processes are often opaque, leading to mistrust in health care, where transparency is critical for diagnosis and treatment.
• Data Exploitation: AI training requires significant data, raising concerns about the exploitation of vulnerable populations. India’s lack of AI-specific regulations complicates the situation, highlighting the need for comprehensive governance.

Conclusion

While AI has the potential to revolutionize certain aspects of health care, its implementation must be approached cautiously. The complexities of patient care, the need for high-quality data, and the ethical implications of AI demand a measured, human-centered approach. India must first address foundational issues in its health system before fully embracing AI-driven health care.