Physicians’ and Machine Learning Researchers’ Perspectives on Ethical Issues in the Early Development of Clinical Machine Learning Tools: Qualitative Interview Study

Background Innovative tools leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are rapidly being developed for medicine, with new applications emerging in prediction, diagnosis, and treatment across a range of illnesses, patient populations, and clinical procedures. One barrier for successful innovation is the scarcity of research in the current literature seeking and analyzing the views of AI or ML researchers and physicians to support ethical guidance. Objective This study aims to describe, using a qualitative approach, the landscape of ethical issues that AI or ML researchers and physicians with professional exposure to AI or ML tools observe or anticipate in the development and use of AI and ML in medicine. Methods Semistructured interviews were used to facilitate in-depth, open-ended discussion, and a purposeful sampling technique was used to identify and recruit participants. We conducted 21 semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of AI and ML researchers (