People Accept Euthanasia Decisions Made by AIs Less Than Those Made by Humans
The role of AI in medical decision-making elicits different reactions in people when compared with human doctors.
'The implications of this research are significant as the role of AI in our society and medical care expands every day.'— University Lecturer Michael Laakasuo
TURKU, FINLAND, May 27, 2025 / EINPresswire.com / -- The role of AI in medical decision-making elicits different reactions in people when compared with human doctors. A new study investigated the situations where the acceptance differs and why with stories that described medical cases.
People accept the euthanasia decisions made by robots and AI less than those made by human doctors, finds a new study. The international study, led by the University of Turku in Finland, investigated people's moral judgements on the decisions made by AI and robots as well as humans on end-of-life care regarding people in a coma. The research team conducted the study in Finland, Czechia, and Great Britain by telling the research subjects stories that described medical cases.
The project's Principal Investigator, University Lecturer Michael Laakasuo from the University of Turku, explains that the phenomenon where people hold some of the decisions made by AI and robots to a higher standard than similar decisions made by humans is called the Human-Robot moral judgement asymmetry effect.
'However, it is still a scientific mystery in which decisions and situations the moral judgement asymmetry effect emerges. Our team studied various situational factors related to the emergence of this phenomenon and the acceptance of moral decisions,' says Laakasuo.
Humans Are Perceived as More Competent Decision-makers
According to the research findings, the phenomenon where people were less likely to accept euthanasia decisions made by AI or a robot than by a human doctor occurred regardless of whether the machine was in an advisory role or the actual decision-maker. If the decision was to keep the life-support system on, there was no judgement asymmetry between the decisions made by humans and Ai. However, in general, the research subjects preferred the decisions where life support was turned off rather than kept on.
The difference in acceptance between human and AI decision-makers disappeared in situations where the patient, in the story told to the research subjects, was awake and requested euthanasia themselves, for example, by lethal injection.
The research team also found that the moral judgement asymmetry is at least partly caused by people regarding AI as a less competent decision-maker than humans.
'AI's ability to explain and justify its decisions was seen as limited, which may help explain why people accept AI into clinical roles less.'
Experiences with AI Play an Important Role
According to Laakasuo, the findings suggest that patient autonomy is key when it comes to the application of AI in healthcare.
'Our research highlights the complex nature of moral judgements when considering AI decision-making in medical care. People perceive AI's involvement in decision-making very differently compared to when a human is in charge,' he says.
'The implications of this research are significant as the role of AI in our society and medical care expands every day. It is important to understand the experiences and reactions of ordinary people so that future systems can be perceived as morally acceptable.'
The research article was published in the journal Cognition.
Michael Laakasuo
University of Turku
[email protected]
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Nvidia and Dell to Supply Next US Department of Energy Supercomputer
The U.S. Department of Energy stated that NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s future Vera Rubin chips and Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)'s liquid-cooled servers would power its next supercomputer. A close-up of a colorful high-end graphics card being plugged in to a gaming computer. "Doudna" is scheduled to be deployed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2026. The technology, which bears the name of Nobel winner Jennifer Doudna, will assist 11,000 researchers in fields ranging from physics to biology. Chris Wright, the Secretary of Energy, underlined the system's contribution to national security and scientific advancement. Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), stressed the importance of supercomputers as "vital instruments" for both defense and innovation. Doudna attributed her CRISPR discoveries to previous backing from the Energy Department. The system carries on the Department's history of nuclear weapons development and high-performance computing. The announcement comes after NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s operations in China came under political scrutiny. Senator Tom Cotton cautioned against evading export restrictions, pointing to national security threats associated with exporting AI chips to China, while Senators Banks and Warren expressed worries about a potential R&D center in Shanghai. While we acknowledge the potential of NVDA to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this READ NEXT: and . Disclosure. None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Never think you're too old': Meet the world's fastest 75-year-old woman
Along a sun-dappled canal towpath in picturesque Hertfordshire countryside, a grey-brown bob rises and falls with the effortless bounce of a lithe, spectacled figure gliding her way past dog-walkers and afternoon ramblers. There is a watch – one of those smart-technology devices capable of producing all sorts of unnecessary metrics – on Sarah Roberts's wrist, but she has forgotten to switch it on. Roberts, a grandmother of five, tends not to take note of such things. Advertisement When she does go for a run – an occurrence of surprising infrequency – she prefers to be guided by feel; distances and times forgotten upon return to her front door. The fastest 75-year-old woman in history – a multiple world champion and world-record holder – possesses no training logbook, no coach and, most intriguingly, almost zero running pedigree for most of her life. Asked by the hastily stretching Guardian journalist – foolishly attempting to keep pace for a few miles – how she is capable of launching straight into a run without any semblance of a warm-up, she reveals she only stretches before races 'so that I don't look unprofessional'. Her Great Britain Masters singlet reveals taut muscles and supple limbs that would never have been employed for their current purpose were it not for a holiday to South Africa eight years ago. Trips there had been a frequent occurrence long before a Cape Town-based friend asked whether Roberts and her husband George would like to join their regular Saturday morning parkrun – the wonderful innovation that welcomes all comers to undertake 5km at whatever pace they choose. Sheltered under trees at the foot of Table Mountain, they savoured this one at no more than a pleasurable amble. The following week they went again, only this time Roberts ran small segments. On their return to their Hertfordshire home, the couple decided to sign up to their local parkrun. For three years, almost every Saturday morning involved a 5km run, with Roberts converting from running novice to regular attendee, whittling her time down from just shy of 30 minutes to less than 23. Just a few weeks off her 70th birthday, she then took a plunge by joining her local athletics club, Dacorum, and signing up for an 800m race at the end of the summer. Advertisement 'I was discovering I was really quite good,' she explains after our canal run, while sitting in front of an antique mantel clock in a living room adorned with furnishings from decades gone by. 'That made me think I ought to see whether I could do other things, so I put myself in for an 800. I'd never even been on a track before. The gun went and all I knew is I had to go round twice. 'The only other people in the race were either under-17 or under-15, and then there was me, almost 70. These girls just shot off in the distance looking like gazelles and I ran round. I was way last and didn't know what time I'd done, but someone told me it was rather good for my age.' The Covid pandemic dashed almost all running opportunities over the next two years, aside from irregular parkruns when permitted. So, it was not until early 2022 that she was able to contest another 800m, unexpectedly taking the scalp of a multiple global age-group champion in the process. 'Nobody had heard of me or expected me to do anything,' says Roberts. Advertisement By 2023, she was a double British champion in the 70-74 age group. The following year she won three world titles over 800m, 1500m and 5,000m, before adding four more indoor golds this March. 800m outdoor: 2min 58.12sec 800m indoor: 2.57.32 1,500m outdoor: 6.06.20 1,500m indoor: 5.58.15 Mile outdoor: 6.40.32 3,000m indoor: 12.28.82 5,000m outdoor: 22.40.15 5km road: 21.33 10,000m outdoor: 45.59.81 10km road: 44.33 Since her birthday last October, she has swept the board of 75+ world records over every track distance from 800m to 10,000m indoors and outdoors, as well as 5km and 10km on the road. Last weekend, she added mile and 10,000m world records to her bulging haul despite less than 90 minutes between races. It is a staggering array of accolades for someone whose running experience never previously extended beyond chasing primary school friends around the playground. Upstairs in their smart detached home, off a hallway lined with photos of their children and grandchildren, sits a room that used to function as an office but is now primarily occupied with Roberts' late-blooming running career. Surrounded by cardboard boxes marked with such mundanities as 'sewing', 'Scrabble' and 'wrapping paper' lie an assortment of athletics paraphernalia, from certificates to printed race results, and photo albums to a frankly overwhelming number of medals. Advertisement How much does running now occupy Roberts' life, I wonder? 'Only 95%,' says George, joking, who happily travels around the country and abroad to watch his wife of almost 54 years race. By this point, there is an obvious question that needs answering. How on earth does a woman who had never run until she was 67 become the fastest of all time? Despite not taking part in any organised sport beyond the briefest of social netball stints many decades ago, Roberts has always been a keen gym goer. Initially just the odd circuit class here and there during her days working as a solicitor and raising two children; latterly, post-retirement, every day and all conceivable options, from boxing to Zumba, and yoga to legs, bums and tums. A few years ago, when her gym held a contest to see who could hold the longest plank, Roberts, then just shy of her 70th birthday, tapped out victorious after 10 minutes and 15 seconds. Only boredom, and a lack of genuine challengers, made her stop. Advertisement Recently, while hoovering up world titles in Florida, she was approached by researchers who asked to conduct some tests on her. They found her resting heart rate drops as low as 38 beats per minute and her VO2 max, which measures the body's ability to use oxygen during exercise, is 54 – both comparable to an elite athlete generations younger. She awaits full MRI results, but the radiographer who conducted the scans was instantly stunned by the lack of fat running through her legs. 'I feel fitter than I've ever felt before, which is fantastic,' she says. 'You don't expect to feel that when you're 75.' Her formal running training remains minimal. Other than a track session on Mondays and intervals on Tuesdays, her only other regular outing is the trusty Saturday morning parkrun. The remainder of her fitness is cultivated through those daily gym visits. Remarkably, given her advancing years, she is only getting quicker, so far improving her best times every summer since starting to compete. 'Whatever I'm doing seems to be working,' she says, smiling. Having braved that initial 800m race at an age when most would never consider it, she hopes her story may inspire others. What unknown talents lie dormant, just waiting for a chance to emerge? Advertisement 'I'd like people to think that they should always try something,' she says. 'You never know what you can do until you try it. Never think you're too old. Give it a go. You will surprise yourself at what you can do if you really try to do something.' Earlier, as we left the towpath and wound our way through the village towards home – one of us sweating considerably more than the other twice his age – two scenarios sprang to mind. One was the thought of what she might achieve with the aid of a properly conceived full-time running regime – a suggestion that Roberts gives short shrift, fully content as she is, with sufficient honours to validate her current approach. The other was what might have been. Given her apparent physiological advantages – and notwithstanding the paucity of middle and long-distance events open to women until the latter decades of the 20th century – does she wonder what she could have accomplished if made aware of her running prowess at a younger age? 'No, I don't,' she says. 'I'm just very grateful that I've discovered it now. I've had a good life and enjoyed whatever I've done in the past. I don't go into what-ifs because all the other factors would have been different anyway. But I'm very happy for the current situation. 'I'm just amazed really. I could always run for a bus, but I never thought I would ever be anywhere near the best in the world. It never would have crossed my mind.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Atlantic International Corp. (ATLN) Launches AI-Powered Workforce Intelligence Platform via Lyneer
Atlantic International Corp. (NASDAQ:ATLN) has launched a groundbreaking conversational AI platform through its subsidiary Lyneer Staffing Solutions, aiming to transform how organizations access and utilize workforce intelligence. Announced today, the subscription-based AI assistant offers hiring managers and HR professionals instant, real-time access to compensation data, benefits insights, cost-of-living adjustments, and career progression forecasts, all through a user-friendly conversational interface. The platform integrates job market data from multiple sources and regional economic indicators, enabling users to make informed hiring and compensation decisions with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Lyneer CEO Todd McNulty emphasized the platform's mission to democratize workforce intelligence, ensuring organizations of all sizes can leverage advanced analytics for smarter hiring. Atlantic International Corp. (NASDAQ:ATLN)'s CEO, Jeffrey Jagid, highlighted the flexibility of the subscription model, which allows clients to scale their access and benefit from continuous updates and enhancements. This launch marks a significant milestone in Atlantic International Corp. (NASDAQ:ATLN)'s expansion into AI-powered HR solutions, positioning the company at the forefront of technology-driven workforce management. The new platform is now available to subscribers, promising to reshape how businesses approach talent acquisition and compensation strategy in an increasingly competitive labor market. While we acknowledge the potential of ATLN to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ATLN and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this READ NEXT: and Disclosure: None.
