Abstract:
There has been growing interest in the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in frontline health, motivated by a shortage of skilled medical experts and medical equipment, particularly in the Global South. The global COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the potential for these efforts, but also their many limitations. AI systems can increase the work burden on frontline health workers, many of whom are women already engaged in underpaid and invisible care and data work. In this talk, we will examine the AI for Global Health discourse through an extensive literature review of 347 papers on ongoing AI efforts in this space. Our analysis uncovers the gaps in current efforts, and opportunities for design, while centering the perspectives of frontline health workers. We will draw on data from three years of ethnographic fieldwork we conducted with women frontline health workers and women from underserved communities in Delhi (India). Finally, we will distill lessons from literature on Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D), post-development critique, and transnational feminist theory to present an agenda for AI efforts that target “social good”, more broadly.
Bio:
Azra Ismail is a PhD candidate in Human-Centered Computing at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. Her research lies at the intersection of human-centered computing and global health, with a focus on the design of data-driven systems for women frontline health workers in India. Azra is also the co-founder of MakerGhat, a non-profit based in Mumbai that creates safe and open makerspaces to support communities in realizing their ideas for local social, economic, and political change.
Bio:
Neha Kumar is an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.A., where she conducts research at the intersection of human-centered computing and global development. In recent years, her research has investigated the role of mobile technologies in global health, with a focus on challenges around data, stigma, and gender. At Georgia Tech, she leads the TanDEm (short for Technology and Design towards “Empowerment”) lab.
For further information contact:
Rumi Chunara (rumi.chunara@nyu.edu)
Siddharth Garg (siddharth.garg@nyu.edu)