AI in Healthcare
With artificial intelligence (AI) becoming increasingly integrated into healthcare systems, questions have emerged regarding how patients’ and clinicians’ views of AI in these high-stakes environments are shaped by its perceived moral competence and adherence to ethical principles, including respect for personal autonomy. To examine this question, this chapter focuses on how people evaluate medical decisions made by AI versus humans and the role that ascriptions of various moral and compassionate traits play in these judgments. We discuss current applications of AI in healthcare settings, existing empirical evidence on public perceptions of AI-assisted versus human decision-making, and offer speculative explanations for the widely documented asymmetrical preference for human over AI decision-makers in patient medication, triage, and life support decisions. As AI evolves, understanding its impact on ethical choices in healthcare is vital for balancing technological advancement with compassionate care.