The report
Capturing the benefits of AI in healthcare for Aotearoa New Zealand examined how artificial intelligence could improve the delivery of healthcare and address long standing inequities. It considered near term uses, such as back office operations and diagnostic support; current and emerging capability, through case studies; the ethical and legal questions AI raises; the system requirements for successful deployment; and a five year timeline of recommendations.
Its central message was that deploying the right AI technology could address inequities whose effects reach well beyond the health system, but only with a clear understanding of legislation, policy, infrastructure, data systems, research capacity and workforce, and with cross sector agreement on direction.
The reference group
The Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor convened a reference group of academics, industry experts, entrepreneurs and government agencies from New Zealand and abroad to inform the work. His membership reflects his research on AI in the built environment, from privacy preserving building systems to urban digital twins, where the same questions of data governance, equity and trust arise.
Significance
Advising the Chief Science Advisor places his expertise inside national policy development at the highest level of the science system. The issues the report addressed, how to capture the benefits of AI while protecting privacy and equity, are those he has since pursued in his own research and in his commentary on AI in academic publishing.
Why the built environment perspective matters
Healthcare is delivered in buildings and across cities, and AI in health increasingly depends on the same infrastructures as smart buildings: sensors, networks, data platforms and the governance that controls them. A reference group that includes built environment expertise can see connections, such as between hospital operations, indoor environmental quality and patient outcomes, that a purely clinical perspective might miss.