Contents I. Introduction
ICT has transformed the way individuals may access healthcare. Our use and dependency to ICT creates undoubtedly new opportunities but also new risks [1]. To ensure that I CT helps to promote healthcare and medicine worldwide, we necessarily need to address issues related to the implementation of AI in healthcare. Regulating the use of AI is a prerequisite as tech companies cannot regulate themselves adequately. Human rights such as data privacy; ethics in the use of data; the digital gap or bias in AI are new challenges to tackle. According to the WHO, AI promises to facilitate access to healthcare and medicine worldwide [2]. Our postulation is that globalization and ICT have created new challenges for states and strengthening interstate cooperation throughout formal international cooperation mechanisms is a necessity. The international community has to agree on a series of international standards and legally binding instruments in the field of ICT and healthcare. The WHO is the right authority to monitor how states regulate the use of AI in healthcare as we can refer to the IHR adopted by the 58th World Health Assembly in 2005 through Resolution WHA 58.3 [3]. AI and other new technologies created a change of paradigm in how personal data may be used by both public and private actors. Regarding data protection, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted in 2016 imposes a series of stringent obligations upon service providers processing, storing or sharing personal data. The GDPR is applicable in the field of AI as data will necessarily be processed [4]. The GDPR encompasses several key principles that apply to AI: data minimization, fairness and transparency, explainability, integrity, purpose limitation, and accountability to minimize the risks of potential harm to individuals caused by the use or misuse of personal data. The European Commission also made efforts to specifically regulate AI throughout its proposal – the Artificial Intelligence Act - released in April 2021 [5]. The main purpose of the Artificial Intelligence Act would be to protect individuals' safety and rights while using AI systems. Combined with the GDPR, this new EU regulation would regulate companies to actively protect privacy and prevent ethical concerns faced by AI users. EU regulations could serve as a law model for the elaboration of legally binding rules under the auspices of the WHO as many states today adopted laws in the field of data protection inspired by EU law [6]. Moreover, it can be argued that states have a general obligation of cooperation under the UN Charter, including health issues. Therefore, the WHO shall be granted coercive legal means to ensure compliance with international health law and especially the IHR which need to be amended by states parties to take into consideration AI and its use by states and private actors.
