How might AI look after patients, or affect the expertise and empathy of healthcare professionals?

Does AI Care? is an installation that explores the concept of ‘care’ and the use of AI applications through the eyes of young adults with experience of cancer. Visitors enter a hospital waiting room, then tune into a sound piece that combines young people’s reflections on the nature of AI, cancer and care. An accompanying textile installation merges visual representations of their multifaceted experiences of care with their personal medical images - realised as blueprints – and text generated by the group.

The exhibit, currently on view at Science Gallery London, is a collaboration between artist Sofie Layton with young adults with experience of living with cancer, and researchers who are already using AI applications in medical imaging, radiotherapy and surgery. To create the artwork, the group met for a series of online and in-person workshops where they discussed their experiences of care, cancer and AI through metaphor creation and creative exercises. Two of the young adults who collaborated on the piece, Samuel Brewis and Emma Lovatt Smith, share their reflections on their involvement.

Sam Brewis and a friend experience the installation at the launch of AI: Who’s Looking After Me?

What did it mean to be part of Does AI Care?

“Being a part of this collective art piece has been truly inspiring for me,” said Samuel Brewis. “I was a bit apprehensive to share my story with strangers at first, but as soon as I met them and saw that we all felt the same it made talking about a serious subject like cancer much more palpable. I have met such a wonderful group of individuals. This exhibit has made it possible for me to share my story in many ways. I have enthused various people to visit the exhibit when it opens, and have posted my own personal journey on social media.”

Emma added, “For me, to have been part of the project has really helped with my personal journey with and away from cancer (specifically PMLBC lymphoma). It has been over three years now since I was told of my remission status, and there have been a lot of really difficult parts of recovery ever since. But getting involved in the project seemed to coincide with a key stage of feeling back in control with the process. I think it wasn’t just a coincidence, but on reflection, actually a cause. And on further reflection, I think that’s why projects such as Does AI Care? which tie medical development into personal experience, have such a synergy to them.”

Emma (left) speaks to Clinician and Researcher Teresa Guerrero Urbano

The group selected objects that they used to create cyanotypes, a type of print making.

What was it like to meet the researchers, and learn about how they use AI in their work?

“My view on AI was one of cautious intrigue,” said Sam. “How does this work? How could AI possibly care? Is this the beginning of the robot uprising? The researchers we met with helped us navigate these questions, and (thankfully) used brilliant language and visual communication to explain the importance of AI within a medical setting as a tool to facilitate human care.”

Emma continued, “The researchers told us of how much they gained from getting to know us as patients, just as we had fed back to them when we thanked them for the knowledge they had given us of the medical uses of AI. I think many of us had similar positive experiences - addressing all of our experiences together felt like a way of forming a healthy community, and in such a short space of time! This was all enabled by the public engagement team at the Centre for Medial Engineering at King’s, and of course Sofie’s ability to tease out our reactions to the researchers’ work. I hope this positive synergy comes through to the viewers of the exhibition, as they witness the product of science and patient experience through the Sofie’s artistic work.”

Sam agreed. “I hope that people who visit this exhibit catch themselves in a moment of reflection, remember a loved one or a personal hardship successfully overcome, count a current blessing like family or a day in the sun, or look forward to the potential of the future. One perhaps where AI is used to its full potential and helps nurses and doctors care for people in a much greater capacity.”

Artist Sofie Layton with Sam in front of part of the exhibit

Does AI Care? was created by Sofie Layton in collaboration with young adults with experience of cancer, and Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering researchers. Commissioned by Science Gallery London, it has been funded by the Wellcome/ EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering and co-ordinated by the centre's Public Engagement Team.

A huge thank you to all the collaborators involved: Charlie Aldred, Samuel Benson, Sam Brewis, Emma Lovatt Smith, Kate Mason, Holly Masters, Bethany Moorhouse, Heather Smith , Virginia Fernandez, Alejandro Granados and Teresa Guerrero Urbano.

Photos: George Torode & Jack Latimer