Beyond the Algorithm: Artificial intelligence, clinical decision-making, and the moral ecology of care in Africa

Kirubel Manyazewal Mussie

No 5r37j_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly promoted as a tool to enhance clinical decision-making and thus, improve quality of healthcare. While much of the emerging scholarship on AI and healthcare in Africa has focused broadly on opportunities and systemic challenges, what remains underexplored is the specific application of AI to clinical decision-making. This paper contributes to addressing this gap by offering a conceptual and critical analysis of AI in clinical decision-making in African contexts. Drawing on philosophical accounts of medical reasoning and relational moral frameworks such as Ubuntu, the paper draws on the moral ecology of care and shows that algorithmic systems can reconfigure epistemic authority, redistribute responsibility, and risk marginalising context-sensitive and relational dimensions of care. The paper further argues that AI systems are better understood as socio-technical mirrors that reflect and amplify existing human values, institutional arrangements, and power asymmetries. Moving beyond the algorithm, it proposes a shift toward relational and context-sensitive AI governance, including the development of relational impact assessments, the redistribution of responsibility across the AI lifecycle, and the co-production of knowledge with local stakeholders. While focusing on African clinical contexts, the analysis offers broader insights for global debates on AI ethics and clinical decision-making.

Date: 2026-04-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://osf.io/download/69d64a61f56c4bb1e6b2803b/

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:5r37j_v1

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/5r37j_v1

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SocArXiv from Center for Open Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by OSF ().