Artificial intelligence and intellectual property in healthcare technologies

Excerpt

The healthcare technologies of today that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnosis and treatment of health conditions create challenges both for those who want to protect investments and for policy makers wanting to ensure that protection doesn’t undermine other social goals. This chapter introduces the types of intellectual property that could be available for AI healthcare technologies, exploring the various challenges and options for protecting investments, including jurisdictional differences. In addition, the chapter addresses policy concerns. In particular, while AI has the remarkable ability to transform healthcare, this is also accompanied by concerns around its opacity and unintelligibility. Certain approaches, such as trade secrecy and contractual confidentiality obligations without a corresponding requirement to disclose information for purposes of safety, efficacy and fairness, could complicate AI regulatory goals as well as impact the public interest. Examining both policy and protection issues, this chapter highlights key issues and considerations for organisations and policy makers.