AI and Participation: Who Participates, How, and Why?

With the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the development of healthcare AI, there is a growing need for reflection and debate on the meaning, scope, and feasibility of participation in healthcare AI. This review contributes to this process of reflection in the following three ways. First, it explores efforts to define AI as intelligent technology. Second, it explains the concept of participatory AI, which applies participatory design principles to the development of AI systems. Finally, it reviews critical concerns with healthcare AI, including the risks of “participation-washing” and the need for a context-sensitive understanding of participation in AI systems.