Stanford AI Conference Weighs Surveillance Against Saving Lives in Pandemic
Experts at a Stanford HAI conference explore how artificial intelligence can combat the coronavirus while debating the ethical limits of surveillance technology. Discussions highlight the delicate balance between emergency public health tracking and the risk of permanent privacy erosion.
The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI hosts a digital conference to explore how artificial intelligence helps governments and health officials save lives during the coronavirus pandemic. With the U.S. facing a potential 100,000 to 240,000 deaths, experts emphasize the urgent need for technology to predict hospital bed availability, accelerate vaccine research, and analyze the psychological toll of social distancing.
A major focus of the event involves the level of public surveillance required to track COVID-19 infections. Dr. Nigam Shah suggests that governments should temporarily commandeer tech company tracking infrastructures during emergencies, similar to how officials commandeer hotels for hospital beds.
However, global health experts like Dr. Michele Barry express concern about the invasive tracking methods used in some authoritarian countries. She warns that while governments quickly roll out strict surveillance laws during public health emergencies, rolling back those emergency powers after the crisis ends often proves incredibly difficult.