FUTURE-AI: international consensus guideline for trustworthy and deployable artificial intelligence in healthcare

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare holds immense potential for enhancing patient care, diagnostics, and treatment planning. However, the deployment of AI technologies in clinical settings has been limited due to concerns regarding their technical, clinical, ethical, and legal implications. To address these challenges and foster trust among stakeholders, the FUTURE-AI consortium has developed the first international consensus guideline aimed at ensuring the trustworthiness and effective deployment of AI in healthcare.

Background and Formation of the FUTURE-AI Consortium

Established in 2021, the FUTURE-AI consortium comprises 118 interdisciplinary experts from 51 countries, including AI scientists, clinicians, ethicists, and social scientists. Over a two-year period, the consortium engaged in an iterative process involving comprehensive literature reviews, a modified Delphi survey, and online consensus meetings to define guiding principles and best practices for trustworthy AI in healthcare.

Key Principles of the FUTURE-AI Guideline

The FUTURE-AI guideline outlines several core principles designed to guide the development and deployment of AI tools in healthcare:

• Fairness: Ensuring that AI systems are unbiased and equitable, providing consistent performance across diverse patient populations.
• Universality: Developing AI solutions that are applicable across various healthcare settings and adaptable to different clinical environments.
• Traceability: Maintaining transparent processes that allow for the tracking and understanding of AI decision-making pathways.
• Usability: Designing AI tools that are user-friendly and seamlessly integrate into existing clinical workflows.
• Robustness: Creating AI systems that are reliable and perform consistently under varying conditions.
• Ethics: Adhering to ethical standards that prioritize patient rights, data privacy, and informed consent.

Significance and Impact

The FUTURE-AI guideline represents a significant advancement in the responsible integration of AI into healthcare. By providing a comprehensive framework, it addresses critical concerns that have hindered the widespread adoption of AI technologies in clinical practice. The guideline’s emphasis on fairness, transparency, and ethics aims to build trust among patients, clinicians, health organizations, and regulatory authorities.

Furthermore, the international and interdisciplinary nature of the consortium underscores the global relevance and applicability of the guideline. As healthcare systems worldwide grapple with the challenges of integrating AI, the FUTURE-AI guideline offers a unified approach to developing and deploying AI tools that are both trustworthy and effective.

Conclusion

The FUTURE-AI international consensus guideline provides a foundational framework for the trustworthy and deployable integration of AI in healthcare. By adhering to its principles, stakeholders can work towards AI solutions that enhance patient care while upholding ethical standards and fostering trust within the healthcare community.

For a more detailed exploration of the guideline and its development, refer to the full article published in the BMJ.