The Doctor Will See You Now--Or Will They? Theorizing AI’s Impact on Black Patients and Providers in Health Care

As far as recent innovation practices go, artificial intelligence (AI) represents one of the major disruptions reshaping various aspects of human life. Health care is perhaps one of the industries where AI stands to be most transformative, particularly as it is increasingly used to diagnose illnesses, assist in creating treatment plans, reduce human error, and offer routine patient services. Yet despite its rapid growth, AI technology still reflects human biases and perceptions, allowing it to replicate existing inequalities. These inequalities could take on particular significance given persistent occupational stratification and increasing racial diversity. In this paper, we theorize how the growing reliance on AI in the US health care system will affect Black care providers and patients.