Advancing artificial intelligence ethics in health and genomics: lessons from a public survey in South Korea

TL;DR

This study explores public perceptions of AI ethics in healthcare in South Korea, revealing strong optimism but concerns about privacy and legal issues.

Contribution

The first nationwide survey in South Korea assessing public ethical awareness of AI in healthcare, highlighting data privacy and education priorities.

Findings

84.5% of respondents are optimistic about AI-H's positive impacts, while 3.1% expect negative consequences.

Privacy protection and legal duties are the most emphasized ethical principles, with 83.9% and 83.4% importance ratings respectively.

Developers and medical managers are top priorities for ethics education, while students and the public rank lower.

Abstract

Advances in healthcare and genetics are becoming increasingly integrated with artificial intelligence (AI), offering transformative potential alongside complex ethical challenges. This study aimed to assess public awareness and perceptions of AI ethics in healthcare (AI-H) in South Korea, with the ultimate goal of informing the development of research ethics guidelines. A nationwide online survey was conducted from January 10 to 20, 2023, targeting the general public, and 1,002 respondents were recruited through stratified random sampling. The questionnaire explored expectations of AI-H, perceived risks, willingness to share different types of personal data, and the perceived importance of various ethical principles and education targets. A large majority of respondents (84.5%) expressed optimism about the positive impacts of AI-H over the next five years, while only 3.1% anticipated negative consequences. Key concerns included the disclosure of personal information (54.0%), potential AI errors causing harm (52.0%), and ambiguous legal responsibilities (42.2%). Willingness to share data was highest for electronic medical records (72.8%), lifestyle data (72.3%), and biometric data (71.3%), while genetic data was least preferred (64.1%). Ethical principles considered most important were privacy protection (83.9%), safety and security (83.7%), legal duties (83.4%), and responsiveness (83.3%). Developers (70.7%), medical institution managers (68.2%), and researchers (65.6%) were identified as top priorities for ethics education, whereas the general public (31.0%) and students (18.7%) ranked lower. This study represents the first nationwide assessment of public ethical awareness of AI-H in South Korea. While there is strong support for AI-H, significant concerns remain, particularly regarding data privacy and legal accountability. The findings highlight the need for expanded ethics education, especially among younger populations, and for balanced attention to ethical principles beyond privacy, such as inclusiveness and accessibility. These insights provide valuable guidance for developing socially responsible AI policies and practices in healthcare.

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