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573COVID-19
and Accountable Artificial Intelligence in a Global Context
through thousands of research papers in order to identify the drugs
that might be used to treat the disease. Google’s DeepMind4 used its
AI algorithms to understand the proteins that might make up the
virus. While there is no doubt that the use of artificial intelligence has
been successfully accelerating medical advances, there is a concern
that the use of these techniques might be seen as a panacea, and that
the results produced may be used without proper testing.5
Furthermore, in the last few months, mobile applications have
been developed, notably based on contact tracing tools to identify
“contact” subjects and anticipate the risks of contamination6 (such
as StopCovid in France, or Covi in Canada). While the effectiveness of
these applications remains uncertain,7 the potential for violations of
civil rights and freedoms is clear. The issues relating to privacy and the
protection of sensitive health and geolocation data have been widely
highlighted by protection authorities, especially under the Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in
Canada. Federal, provincial, and territorial privacy guardians issued
a joint statement calling on governments to ensure that COVID-19
contact tracing applications respect key privacy principles.8 Beyond
that, the most vulnerable parts of our population—the poor, the his-
torically socially excluded—are naturally the ones most affected by
the virus, as mentioned by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.9
4. R Tiernan, “Google DeepMind’s Effort on COVID-19 Coronavirus Rests on the
Shoulders of Giants” (March 6, 2020), online: ZD Net <https://www.zdnet.com/
article/google-deepminds-effort-on-covid-19-coronavirus-rests-on-the-shoul-
ders-of-giants>.
5. “Doctors are Using AI to Triage COVID-19 Patients. The Tools May Be Here to
Stay” (23 April 2020), online: MITÂ
TechnologyÂ
ReviewÂ
<https://www.technologyre-
view.com/2020/04/23/1000410/ai-triage-covid-19-patients-health-care/>.
6. Mirjam Kretzschmar, Ganna Rozhnova & Michiel van Boven, “Effectiveness of
Isolation and Contact Tracing for Containment and Slowing Down a COVID-19
Epidemic: A Modelling Study” (6 March 2020), online: SSRN <https://ssrn.com/
abstract=3551343>.
7. “Show Evidence that Apps for COVID-19 Contact Tracing Are Secure and
Effective” (29 April 2020), online: Nature Editorial <https://www.nature.com/
articles/d41586-020-01264>.
8. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, News Release, “Privacy
Guardians Issue Joint Statement on COVID-19 Contact Tracing Applications”
(7 May 2020), online: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada <https://www.
priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/2020/nr-c_200507>.
9. “Actions Consistent with a Human Rights-Based Approach to Managing the
COVID-19 Pandemic” (May 2020), online: Ontario Human Rights CommissionÂ
<http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/actions-consistent-human-rights-based-approach-
managing-covid-19-pandemic>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International