Artificial Intelligence · Class 10 · Unit 1 · Ethical Frameworks
class 10 aiethics⏱️ 6 min read
Bioethics
Of all the places an AI can be put to work, a hospital is the one where a wrong decision costs the most. So healthcare has its own ethical framework, older than AI itself, and AI has to pass it too.
1What bioethics is
🔑Bioethics
Bioethics is an ethical framework used in healthcare and life sciences. It deals with ethical issues related to health, medicine and biological sciences, making sure that AI used in healthcare meets ethical standards.
⚠️Which type is it?
Bioethics is a sector-based framework — the sector being healthcare. It is not value-based. The 2026 board paper tested exactly this.
2The four principles
#
Principle
What it means
1
Respect for autonomy
People decide for themselves — so they must know how the AI decides
2
Do not harm
Harm to anyone, human or non-human, must be avoided
3
Ensure maximum benefit for all
Go beyond avoiding harm — do the most good possible
4
Give justice
Benefits and harms must be shared fairly between groups
Below, each principle is a gate. A recommendation on its way to a patient has to get through all four — and failing one is not something it can make up for by doing well on the others.
⚖️ Four gates on the way to the patient
Each gate is one principle of bioethics. A decision that fails a principle does not get to trade it off against the others — it stops there.
The recommendation cannot get through. It fails Do Not Harm — patients who were sicker were sent less care — and it fails Give Justice, because one region carried all of that harm.
🙋 1. Respect for Autonomy
People must be able to decide for themselves, which means they must know how the AI reached its decision.
🛡️ 2. Do Not Harm
Harm to anyone — human or non-human — must be avoided. Where no harmless choice exists, take the path of least harm.
🌱 3. Ensure Maximum Benefit
Avoiding harm is not enough. The action should give the greatest possible benefit to everyone involved.
⚖️ 4. Give Justice
Benefits and harms must be shared fairly. No group may be left worse off than another.
3The four, a little closer
📝1. Respect for autonomy
Users of an AI system should be fully aware of how the decision was made. The data a model was trained on, and used to decide, should be reproducible and accessible to the patient. If the model starts performing badly, its predictions and data labels should be released.
📝2. Do not harm
Harm to anyone — human or non-human — must be avoided at all costs. Where no harmless choice exists, the path of least harm must always be chosen. A model must be trained on data that reduces harm for all, not just for some groups.
📝3. Ensure maximum benefit for all
Avoiding harm is the floor, not the goal. The solution should be held to clinical practice standards, not merely to technological ones — that is, judged on whether patients actually do better.
📝4. Give justice
Benefits and harms must be distributed fairly among everyone involved. A solution has to be aware of the social realities of healthcare and work against unfair structures rather than repeat them.
4Three words examiners like
Word
Meaning
Non-maleficence
Avoiding causing harm or negative consequences — minimise harm as much as possible
Maleficence
Intentionally causing harm or wrongdoing
Beneficence
Promoting and maximising well-being — acting so as to produce the greatest benefit for all
💡Reading them
Male- means bad, bene- means good, and non- reverses. So maleficence is doing harm, non-maleficence is not doing harm (principle 2), and beneficence is doing good (principle 3).
5Practice
1
List the four principles of bioethics. (Practice)
2 marks
▶Show the answer
Respect for autonomy; do not harm; ensure maximum benefit for all; give justice.
2
A hospital’s AI will not tell doctors or patients why it ranked one patient above another. Which bioethics principle does this break, and why? (Practice)
2 marks
▶Show the answer
Respect for autonomy. People can only make their own decisions if they know how a decision about them was reached. A model that hides its reasoning takes that choice away from the patient.
6Check yourself
✏️ Quick Check
Bioethics is used in which sector?
✏️ Quick Check
Which principle says benefits and harms must be shared fairly between groups?