SNIS International Geneva Award for IBME Paper on the Ethical Challenges of AI in Health Information Dissemination
We are pleased to announce that ITE Lab Co-directors Giovanni Spitale and Federico Germani, and IBME director Nikola Biller-Andorno have been awarded a Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) International Geneva Award for their paper “The Dual Nature of AI in Information Dissemination: Ethical Considerations”. SNIS supports policy-relevant research on global challenges and promotes dialogue between academia and international organisations.
The article examines how AI systems can both support and undermine the dissemination of health information, showing that artificial intelligence is not only a technological development but also a pressing public health issue. Drawing on empirical research on large language models, the authors highlight risks such as opaque training data, topic-dependent biases, and the increased likelihood of misleading outputs under emotionally charged prompting.
The paper proposes safeguards ranging from improved moderation and identity verification to AI-assisted fact-checking, while emphasizing that strengthening information literacy and societal resilience remains the most important long-term protection.
The SNIS committee highlighted the study’s strong relevance for international organisations working in public health and digital governance, noting its accessibility for policy-makers and potential to inform high-level discussions.
Information, Technology & Experimental Ethics Lab (ITE) | Institute of Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine (IBME) | UZH