Informed Consent In Ai Systems: Legal Requirement Or Ethical Choice
- IJLLR Journal
- Sep 6
- 1 min read
Ms. Shweta, Research Scholar, Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Prof. (Dr.) Ajay Ranga, Professor, UILS, Panjab University, Chandigarh
ABSTRACT
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare has triggered profound debates in bioethics and medical law. Traditionally, informed consent has operated as a protective doctrine designed to safeguard patient autonomy and dignity. It ensures that individuals exercise agency over their bodies and treatment by requiring disclosure, comprehension, and voluntary decision-making. Yet the rapid adoption of AI has disrupted this doctrine by introducing algorithmic opacity, data stewardship challenges, and uncertainties around accountability.
This paper investigates whether informed consent in AI-driven healthcare should be treated merely as a legal requirement, imposed through statutes such as the EU’s AI Act or India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023), or as an ethical choice that clinicians and developers must actively embrace to preserve trust and fairness. Through historical, comparative, and practical analysis, the study argues that law provides the baseline for informed consent, but ethics demands more. Informed consent in AI should not be reduced to a bureaucratic exercise but must evolve into a continuous dialogue that balances innovation with patient rights.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Informed Consent, Bioethics, AI Act, GDPR, DPDP Act 2023, Medical Law, Autonomy, Accountability.
