Generalization—a key challenge for responsible AI in patient-facing clinical applications

Lea Goetz, Nabeel Seedat, Robert Vandersluis, Mihaela van der Schaar

Abstract: Generalization – the ability of AI systems to apply and/or extrapolate their knowledge to new data which might differ from the original training data – is a major challenge for the effective and responsible implementation of human-centric AI applications. Current debate in bioethics proposes selective prediction as a solution. Here we explore data-based reasons for generalization challenges and look at how selective predictions might be implemented technically, focusing on clinical AI applications in real-world healthcare settings.