‘Ethics is not a checkbox exercise.’ Bioinformatician Yves Moreau reacts to mass retraction of papers from China

Moreau notes the research teams have unusually high proportions of investigators affiliated with the police and justice system. The retraction notices don’t mention this concern, but Moreau says it suggests the DNA profiling could be used to surveil and control minority populations. Many of the papers do mention forensic applications of the research. Moreau’s efforts had previously led other journals to retract 11 papers. He says publishers are still investigating dozens of others he has flagged.

[Podcast] Yves Moreau: AI and ethics: Do they go together?

If you ask Yves Moreau, we are drunk teenagers losing control of the car we are driving – at least when it comes to artificial intelligence. The 2023 Einstein Foundation Individual Award winner studies biomedical DNA data and describes himself as a “concerned scientist.” In this metaphor-packed episode of #AskDifferent, he describes the cultural shift he would like to see regarding the way we deal with artificial intelligence, how he helped push prestigious scientific journals to retract articles, and what the future holds for ethical standards in technological engineering.

Yves Moreau, le passe Muraille

À l’interface entre informatique et biologie, Yves Moreau se dit impressionné par la place de la réflexion éthique dans la communauté de génétique humaine, malgré la lourdeur administrative des évaluations : « Alors que mes collègues européens qui collectent des données cliniques sont englués dans des processus nécessaires mais pénibles pour obtenir l’approbation des comités d’éthique, observer qu’aucun contrôle n’est effectué en génétique médico-légale en Chine est extrêmement frustrant ».

Artificiële Intelligentie heeft zijn ei nog lang niet gelegd

Ook pr. dr. Yves Moreau (electrical engineering bio-informaticus KU Leuven) liet enkele reflecties uit zijn vakgebied optekenen waarbij hij de huidige AI-hype in perspectief plaatste. Iedereen herinnert zich eenzelfde hype toen AI van IBM in de vorm van de supercomputer Watson (gelanceerd in 2007) een industriële revolutie zou ontketenen en fikse groei voor IBM zou genereren. Niets van die twee voorspellingen kwam uit. Intussen stelde IBM zijn visie over Watson flink naar beneden bij en klinkt het een pak bescheidener.

Artificiële intelligentie in de zorg staat centraal op medisch congres

Ruim tweehonderd huisartsen, specialisten en andere zorgverleners woonden afgelopen weekend een medisch congres over artificiële intelligentie in de zorg bij in CC Westrand Dilbeek, in organisatie van de Huisartsenkringen Zennevallei, Pajottenland en Noordrand. Tal van experten gingen met elkaar in debat, zoals Guy Nagels (afdelingshoofd Neurologie – UZ Brussel), Yves Moreau (Bio-informaticus – KU Leuven), Sigrid Sterckx (moraalwetenschapper UGent), Stefaan Callens (KU Leuven en advocaat) en Jeroen van den Brandt, voorzitter van Domus Medica.

Hoe ethisch verantwoord zijn DNA-databanken: ‘Je creëert een systeem waarin de burger altijd verdacht is’

In 2016 kreeg Moreaus interesse in bio-ethiek een extra dimensie. Een collega maakte hem attent op het feit dat er in Koeweit een wet was aangenomen die toeliet dat van elke inwoner en elke bezoeker een DNA-staal zou worden afgenomen dat in een databank van de politie zou belanden. ‘Het doel, het oplossen van misdaden, leek misschien nobel,’ stelt hij, ‘maar de vraag drong zich op hoe ver je kunt gaan in het opslaan van gegevens van mensen waar je ook heel veel andere informatie uit kunt afleiden.’

Recherches chinoises | Des articles scientifiques retirés après un long combat

M. Moreau s’est intéressé dans ce contexte à la publication dans des revues scientifiques occidentales de dizaines d’études émanant de Chine qui visaient clairement, selon lui, à « développer et valider des méthodes d’analyse d’ADN pour la police ». En les publiant, les revues se rendent en quelque sorte complices des dérapages pouvant en découler, note l’universitaire.

Journal retracts ‘unethical’ genetic studies conducted in China on minority groups

All the retracted papers were published between 2019 and 2021 in Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine (MGGM) – a journal by the American multinational publishing company Wiley. Bioethicist and geneticist Yves Moreau from Belgium first raised concerns of these papers in March 2021 to MGGM’s editor-in-chief Suzanne Hart. More than 50 papers in different journals are reportedly still under investigation two years after Dr Moreau first flagged them.

Unethical studies on Chinese minority groups are being retracted — but not fast enough, critics say

Moreau takes the wider view that any broad indiscriminate collection of DNA by authorities is harmful, and thus so are any forensic databases built from such efforts. “They are part of that structure of social control that terrorizes a population,” he says. Noting China’s mass collection of DNA from men across the country, as well as in Xinjiang, he would like to see all data obtained in such a way removed from international databases, including data on people from the majority Han Chinese ethnic group.

Interview: Yves Moreau

"Absolutely. My vision is that as researchers, we are not outside society; on the contrary, we are funded by that society, in all its social and political dimensions. As experts with a technical background, we have a crucial role to play in shaping the foundation of public debate. Think of the at times activist role played by scientists like Einstein, Bertrand Russel, Otto Hahn, and Linus Pauling in the societal debate on nuclear weapons." "Technology, in my view, is not neutral but morally ambiguous. We must strive to ensure that our knowledge and expertise bring about as much good as possible and cause as little harm as possible by analyzing the potential and, especially, the probable consequences of our work. The development of a kitchen knife may have negative consequences, but that likelihood is reasonably different from the development of an advanced camera system with facial recognition, or the export of such a system to a region like Xinjiang."

پروفېسسور ئۇۋېس موراۋ: «ئۇيغۇرلارنىڭ گېن ئۇچۇرلىرىغا ئائىت تەتقىقاتلار كەسپىي ئەخلاق نۇقتىسىدىن ئەيىبلىنىشى كېرەك!»

ئۇنىڭ دېيىشىچە، خىتاي ئومۇمىي نوپۇسىنىڭ بىر پىرسەنتىنىمۇ تەشكىل قىلمايدىغان بىر مىللەتنىڭ گېنىغا ئائىت تەتقىقاتنىڭ ئالاھىدە كۆپ بولۇشى، ئۇنىڭدا سوئال ئىشارىتى پەيدا قىلغان.

DNA collection from Chinese minority groups for biometrics research raises alarms | Biometric Update

In 2019, Moreau wrote an editorial condemning the forceful collection of DNA samples in a way that enables the repression of minority ethnic groups in China. He warned then that with DNA technology becoming less costly to deploy, there could be a proliferation of DNA databases which may open up the possibility for widespread and uncontrolled surveillance of vulnerable people.
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