Artificial intelligence in human reproduction: charting the ethical debate over AI in IVF

• Published in: Ai and ethics (Online) Vol. 3; no. 3; pp. 947 - 961
• Main Author: Tamir, Sivan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.08.2023
• Subjects: Artificial Intelligence; Computer Science; Ethics; Original Research; In vitro fertilization (IVF); Bioethics; AI ethics; Artificial intelligence (AI); Human reproduction
• ISSN: 2730-5953; 2730-5961
• DOI: 10.1007/s43681-022-00216-x

The novel introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into in vitro fertilization (IVF) technologies (AI(i)IVF) is, at the same time, medically promising and ethically disconcerting. The new possibilities and complexities generated by involving intelligent, powerful algorithms in human creation and reproduction, raise a host of ethical issues for IVF patients, practitioners—embryologists, in particular, and society at large. After introducing the various roles AI may play in IVF, and presenting research challenges and limitations, this paper seeks to identify and analyze various, as yet unexplored ethical implications of AI(i)IVF. We first originally contemplate a suitable framework for the ethical discussion, where biomedicine and patient rights are intertwined with AI and algorithmic decision-making. As these two domains are seemingly governed by distinct ethical frameworks—the long-standing bioethics and the currently evolving AI ethics—we suggest that a combination of these two (nuanced, yet considerably overlapping) sets of principles should be applied: human-centric AI ethics principles—applied to the technological architecture of the AI(i)IVF tool, and the patient-centric principles of bioethics—applied to personal and societal aspects of implementing AI(i)IVF. We then, respectively, apply relevant principles to analyze the ethical merits and caveats of implementing AI(i)IVF, particularly for embryo evaluation and selection, while consistently debating whether putting a higher threshold for AI(i)IVF ethicality, than the one set for traditional (non-AI) IVF, is indeed warranted or justified.