Page - 578 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE578 developed for humanitarian purposes. The objective of this effort is to sensitize technical specialists who may not be familiar with the ethical dimensions and impact of their work. As we have seen, data used in artificial intelligence, whether for medical purposes or for epidemiological modelling, can be extremely sensitive, with implications for the personal privacy and security of individuals and groups. Given the pre-existing tendency to overlook the privacy needs and rights of residents of developing countries and the current de-prioritization of privacy legislation in the face of the pandemic response, this problem is likely to get worse. Conclusion There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, thanks to the recent advances in artificial intelligence, we will be able to deal more quickly and effectively with this crisis. But the use of artificial intelligence has risks. This is most certainly the case for privacy protection, which already is lacking in humanitarian emergency contexts. The societal and democratic impacts of artificial intelligence, used as a decision-support tool for governments at all levels, will need to be considered from the start. This kind of application is even more critical for developing countries, which have fewer resources to address the crisis and have less resilience to its compound effects. More than ever, therefore, we need to highlight and mitigate the adverse effects of these technologies, particularly when they impact vulnerable populations.