Engineering Matters

Engineering Matters


#316 What Can AI Engineers Learn From Medical Professionals?

February 13, 2025

AI is evolving so fast it eludes definition. The potential impact of the field is barely understood, even by those working in it. ‘Move-fast-and-break-things’ practitioners are deploying AI systems in autonomous vehicles, in courts, in medical diagnosis, and now even at the heart of the US federal government. 



Few of the constraints that govern individual and corporate behaviour are being applied to the field. Large corporations are shaping the sector faster than governments can act. In a society where few have a useful understanding of the technology, neither market signals or social norms can steer how good AI systems are produced, and harms prevented. But experts and institutions are proposing systems that might professionalise the sector, establishing best practices and avoiding harms. 



In this episode, Fordham Law School’s Chinmayi Sharma shares her proposal for a ‘Hippocratic Oath for AI’, that could bring the same professional duties to AI developers as are followed by surgeons. Peter Bannister, whose business Romilly Life Sciences supports the development of cutting edge medical devices, explains how his institution, the IET, is already shaping a professional approach to this technology. And Humboldt Prize-winning pharmacologist David Colquhoun shares a story from early in his career that illustrates the importance of ongoing monitoring of adverse effects of innovative products.



Guests



Chinmayi Sharma, Associate Professor, Fordham School of Law



Peter Bannister, MD, Romilly Life Sciences



David Colquhoun, Fellow of the Royal Society, Honorary Fellow, UCL



References



AI’s Hippocratic Oath, Chinmayi Sharma



Code, Lawrence Lessig



We Need a Building Code for Building Code, Carl Landwehr



Digital Empires, Anu Bradford



The Application of Artificial Intelligence in Functional Safety, The IET



Responsible Handover of AI, Sense about Science



DC’s Improbable Science, David Colquhoun

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