Table 1
AI promises, perils, guiding principles, and guardrails. Examples are illustrative and align with cited literature. LMM guidance refers to WHO ethics and governance recommendations.
| AI dimension | Promise in global health | Peril or risk | Guiding Christian principle | Practical guardrail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnostics & triage | Faster screening and decision support | Bias from non-representative datasets | Justice and imago Dei | Dataset diversity standards and external bias audits before deployment |
| Surveillance & preparedness | Earlier outbreak signals and resource targeting | Misuse for excessive surveillance | Human dignity and subsidiarity | WHO LMM guidance, proportional use, privacy protections, community oversight |
| Education & workforce support | Scalable training and patient education | Hallucinations and over-reliance on automation | Stewardship and prudence | Human-in-the-loop and clear disclosure of AI use |
| System efficiency & access | Better allocation and reduced wait times | Digital colonialism and inequitable benefit | Solidarity and preferential option for the poor | LMIC co-design, open documentation, shared governance |
[i] Note. This pairing becomes a pathway in Figure 1. Promises and perils flow through Christian principles toward concrete policy and practice controls.
Figure 1
Christian discernment of AI in global health.