Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare Delivery: Implication for Ethics of Care in Africa

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been described as a “game-changer” significantly impacting various sectors, particularly academia, business, and healthcare. Advances in AI have profound implications for caregivers, patients, the healthcare system, and society. Key global concerns surrounding AI in healthcare include questions such as: Will its integration improve diagnosis, treatment, and research? Will it democratize healthcare access and address ethical concerns of moral distancing, or will it introduce errors and inefficiencies? This paper aims to explore these questions within the African context, focusing particularly on the implications for the Ethics of Care, which is a moral framework that emphasizes the importance of relationships and dependencies in human life. Specifically, it examines whether AI in healthcare can sustain the core relational and dependency elements central to this ethical theory. It also investigates whether AI’s role as a caregiver can align with the emotional and bodily aspects that the Ethics of Care deems essential to moral deliberations. The paper employs conceptual and critical analysis to address these issues and provide a deeper understanding of AI’s ethical ramifications within the healthcare system.