The Black Box Myth

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) and its correlates, such as machine and deep learning, are changing health care, where complex matters such as comoribidity call for dynamic decision-making. Yet, some people argue for extreme caution, referring to AI and its correlates as a black box. This brief article uses philosophy and science to address the black box argument about knowledge as a myth, concluding that this argument is misleading as it ignores a fundamental tenet of science, i.e., that no empirical knowledge is certain, and that scientific facts – as well as methods – often change. Instead, control of the technology of AI and its correlates has to be addressed to mitigate such unexpected negative consequences.