Experts discussed the challenges of adopting artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare during the Dubai AI Week. They emphasized that regulations, rather than technology, create barriers to trust and broader adoption of AI solutions in the healthcare sector.

As reported by Khaleej Times, Remy Levastre, a strategic healthcare consultant, stated, “The truth is that the bottleneck in AI evolution is not technology. It is not coming from coding. It’s coming from regulations.” He stressed the need for regulations to act as gatekeepers instead of gate blockers when deploying AI on a large scale. Levastre also acknowledged the importance of ensuring patient protection, quality, safety, and the protection of data.

He compared different regulatory bodies, noting that the European regulatory framework is very structured and cautious, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States is more complex. Levastre praised the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention for its collaborative efforts in creating an AI sandbox, which allows for the testing of data and tools in a controlled environment.

Joelle Zaran-Rosenfield, co-founder of 2MO, highlighted the necessity of learning from past mistakes in AI development. She warned that failing to do so could lead to the creation of biased AI tools. Zaran-Rosenfield emphasized the importance of collecting the right data and maintaining quality while also ensuring the privacy of individuals.

Her company aims to build a localized AI medical tool tailored for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) population. She reiterated, “We need to have good data to use AI. If we don’t have good data, we’re going to carry biases.” Ensuring the integrity of data is crucial for the successful implementation of AI in healthcare.