In crisis zones, first responders often have only seconds to make a decision. When AI enters that equation, who has enough time to properly oversee these systems? It takes more than a second to unpack a complex algorithm, let alone detect a bug. That is time a first responder simply does not have.
This challenge may sound obvious, but many AI systems designed for high-stakes contexts still rely on the assumption that, if something goes wrong, the human operator will catch it. In practice, this depends entirely on who that person is, where they work — on the ground, in a hospital, or in a control room — and what the crisis looks like around them.
MEDAIGENCY is tackling these questions head-on by working to design AI systems that are safe, effective, and grounded in the realities of the people they are meant to serve in Lebanon, Palestine, Italy, and Türkiye. Each country brings its own context, institutions, resources, and operational challenges.
This is precisely why our partners at Eticas.ai helped establish the MEDAIGENCY Ethics Advisory Board, bringing together four independent experts in AI governance, humanitarian health technologies, crisis mental health, and AI design ethics. Their role is not to simply validate technologies, but to help surface what each context demands from the systems being developed.
Eticas will translate this input into concrete design requirements, so that human oversight is not just a line in the documentation, but a safeguard that works in the field.
Next Med
