Beyond the Hype: ‘Acceptable Futures’ for AI and Robotic Technologies in Healthcare

Giulia De Togni; Sonja Erikainen; Sarah Chan; Sarah Cunningham-Burley

doi:10.1007/s00146-023-01659-4

Beyond the Hype: ‘Acceptable Futures’ for AI and Robotic Technologies in Healthcare

Giulia De Togni^* (Corresponding Author), Sonja Erikainen, Sarah Chan, Sarah Cunningham-Burley

^*Corresponding author for this work

Sociology

University of Edinburgh

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

AI and robotic technologies attract much hype, including utopian and dystopian future visions of technologically driven provision in the health and care sectors. Based on 30 interviews with scientists, clinicians and other stakeholders in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, and New Zealand, this paper interrogates how those engaged in developing and using AI and robotic applications in health and care characterize their future promise, potential and challenges. We explore the ways in which these professionals articulate and navigate a range of high and low expectations, and promissory and cautionary future visions, around AI and robotic technologies. We argue that, through these articulations and navigations, they construct their own perceptions of socially and ethically ‘acceptable futures’ framed by an ‘ethics of expectations.’ This imbues the envisioned futures with a normative character, articulated in relation to the present context. We build on existing work in the sociology of expectations, aiming to contribute towards better understanding of how technoscientific expectations are navigated and managed by professionals. This is particularly timely since the COVID-19 pandemic gave further momentum to these technologies.

Original language	English
Number of pages	10
Journal	AI and Society
Early online date	22 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01659-4
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 22 Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. The authors would also like to thank the interviewees who gave up their time to participate in this study.

Funding
This research was funded in whole by the Wellcome Trust [213643/Z/18/Z].

Data Availability Statement

Data availability: The datasets generated during and/or analysed during this study are not publicly available to protect study participant privacy

Keywords

AI
Hype
Robotics
Expectations
Techno scientific imaginaries
Healthcare

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Cite this

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title = "Beyond the Hype: {\textquoteleft}Acceptable Futures{\textquoteright} for AI and Robotic Technologies in Healthcare",

abstract = "AI and robotic technologies attract much hype, including utopian and dystopian future visions of technologically driven provision in the health and care sectors. Based on 30 interviews with scientists, clinicians and other stakeholders in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, and New Zealand, this paper interrogates how those engaged in developing and using AI and robotic applications in health and care characterize their future promise, potential and challenges. We explore the ways in which these professionals articulate and navigate a range of high and low expectations, and promissory and cautionary future visions, around AI and robotic technologies. We argue that, through these articulations and navigations, they construct their own perceptions of socially and ethically {\textquoteleft}acceptable futures{\textquoteright} framed by an {\textquoteleft}ethics of expectations.{\textquoteright} This imbues the envisioned futures with a normative character, articulated in relation to the present context. We build on existing work in the sociology of expectations, aiming to contribute towards better understanding of how technoscientific expectations are navigated and managed by professionals. This is particularly timely since the COVID-19 pandemic gave further momentum to these technologies.",

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Beyond the Hype: ‘Acceptable Futures’ for AI and Robotic Technologies in Healthcare

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this