The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) has issued the final version of guidelines on the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. The draft version of the guidelines was issued in February.
Titled "Ethical Principles for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine," the guidelines outline the most appropriate use of AI and the related field of machine learning and explain how both technologies can result in better patient care. Development of the guidelines was led by RANZCR's AI Working Group, with extensive consultation with a broad range of industry, academic, commercial, and government stakeholders, along with other medical colleges.
The document includes nine principles:
- Safety
- Privacy and protection of data
- Avoidance of bias
- Transparency and explainability
- Application of human values
- Decision-making on diagnosis and treatment
- Teamwork
- Responsibility for decisions made
- Governance
The full document can be viewed on RANZCR's website.
![A normal mammogram confirmed by three-year radiologic follow-up illustrates reader-marked regions of interest (ROIs) during (A) unaided (round 1) and (B) artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted (round 2) reading. Each colored dot represents an ROI for recall by a human reader. Readers could mark more than one ROI per case, represented by multiple dots of the same color. During AI-assisted reading, the AI system displayed three visible prompts: two with suspicion of malignancy scores of 35% (left mediolateral oblique [L MLO] and craniocaudal [L CC]) and one with a suspicion of malignancy score of 10% (right craniocaudal [R CC]), shown as polygonal overlays. Without AI, six of 10 readers (60%) marked a false-positive ROI. With AI assistance, this fell to two of 10 (20%). R MLO = right mediolateral oblique.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/07/2026-07-14-radiology-mammogram-ai-auto-bias.H0bYO8QlWs.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
