Learn About AI and It’s Impact on Health Information Access and Services

Posted by Bobbi Newman on September 16th, 2024 Posted in: Blog
Tags: AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming many aspects of our lives, including the way we access and understand health information. Although AI technology has been around for some time, its development has accelerated over the last two years, offering new opportunities and challenges for healthcare and libraries alike. But what exactly is AI, and how is it being used in the health sciences? AI refers to machines that perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as recognizing patterns in large datasets and making decisions. AI’s capabilities are broad and continually evolving, from recommending TV shows to guiding self-driving cars.

To help health information professionals navigate this complex and dynamic landscape, NNLM has hosted several webinars featuring experts discussing AI’s impact on health sciences libraries and healthcare. These webinars cover topics from generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard to the ethical implications of AI in healthcare, offering valuable insights for anyone interested in the intersection of AI, health information, and libraries. Whether you’re looking to understand the basics of AI, explore its applications in healthcare, or learn how to mitigate biases, these resources provide a comprehensive guide to AI’s current and future state in health information. Dive into the webinars and resources below to stay informed and empowered in this rapidly evolving field.

What is AI?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to actions that mimic human intelligence displayed by machines and to the field of study focused on this type of intelligence. AI consists of computer programs that are typically built to adaptively update and enhance their own performance over time. They are used to process, analyze, and recognize patterns in large datasets, and they use those patterns to get better at completing tasks or solving problems. AI programs are used for a variety of purposes, including recommending new television shows based on viewers’ preferences, guiding self-driving cars through cities, and learning how to defeat players in games like chess. – NNLM Glossary

NNLM has hosted a variety of guest speaker webinars to help you better understand AI. Recordings are available.

Generative AI in Health Sciences Libraries: What to Do Now -In this webinar, Lauren Hays shares about the current state of generative AI. Then, she discussed how this technology is impacting health sciences libraries and how it may impact health sciences libraries in the future. The webinar will end with information on effectively incorporating generative AI and addressing the challenges it creates.

The Future Will See You Now: AI for Healthcare, A Library’s Perspective – Newly released AI tools are poised to disrupt multiple industries, including healthcare and libraries, dramatically. Elizabeth A. Gross explores numerous healthcare applications that use AI, both current and in development – from a new industry-saving “bot workforce” to self-driving microscopes. She discusses the criticisms and concerns this technology is garnering and its potential effect on jobs, education, and libraries. With AI comes the need for more student-centered learning and greater information literacy, which libraries can provide.

Introduction to Generative AI Tools – In the rapidly evolving digital technology landscape, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force, offering groundbreaking tools such as ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion. Although the core principles underlying these AI technologies are not entirely new, the enhanced accessibility of these tools enables a broader audience to leverage AI’s potential, including in the biomedical field. In this presentation, Chris Guerra aims to provide a foundational understanding of how generative AI can be utilized while simultaneously addressing potential risks and ethical concerns so that individuals and organizations can make more informed decisions around their implementation.

AI, Higher Education, and Medical Librarianship: Opportunities and Risks – This presentation by Michael Flierl on the most recent developments of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems discusses the basic principles of ChatGPT and other generative AIs and provides real-time demonstrations of how to use generative AI systems, examine the historical use of AI technology, and encourage discussion about the potential costs and harms of powerful AI systems. The session provides attendees with an encouraging environment to experiment with and learn about increasingly important AI topics and tools in the context of higher education and medical librarianship.

How Implicit Bias Affects Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare – Implicit bias is a natural survival instinct inherent in human beings. However, when implicit bias is not addressed in a healthcare setting, health disparities, gaps in care, and discrimination can occur in clinical settings. Algorithmic bias in healthcare still exists today, and as new technologies and digital innovations are introduced into the care continuum, leaders must acknowledge that many of the foundations the tools are built upon contain damaging bias that negatively impacts patient care. Taking deliberate steps to mitigate these biases can reduce health disparities and allow the promise of artificial intelligence to be fully realized in improving patient outcomes.

Take this self-paced course! 

Generative AI Short Course – In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, libraries are leveraging generative artificial intelligence to enhance their services and adapt to changing user behaviors and needs.  “Navigating New Norms: Harnessing Generative AI for Library Services and Solutions” is a short course designed to equip librarians with the knowledge and skills needed to automate efforts in advancing analytics, creating content, and answering library users’ questions.

Additional Resources

Research Libraries Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence  PDF (ARSL)

Public Libraries Set the Stage for Integration of Artificial Intelligence in their Services and Resources (Urban Libraries Council)

Building an AI Literacy Framework: Perspectives from Instruction Librarians and Current Information Literacy Tool (CHOICE)

Generative AI for Health Information: A Guide to Safe Use (YaleMedicine)

The Emerging Landscape of Augmented Intelligence in Health Care PDF (American Medical Association)

Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: The Hope, the Hype, the Promise, the Peril PDF (National Academy of Medicine)

KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll: Artificial Intelligence and Health Information (KFF)

ABOUT Bobbi Newman
Bobbi Newman (MLIS, MA) is the Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist for NNLM R6 at the University of Iowa. She is the author of Fostering Wellness in the Workplace: A Guide for Libraries. She developed the popular NNLM course “Wellness in the Library Workplace.” Bobbi is a mindfulness student and a member of Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH). She currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board for Let’s Move in Libraries. She divides her time between her dog, reading fantasy and nonfiction, playing video games, crafting, kayaking, biking, and gardening.

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