Yathiqu Concludes Third Policy Council on Trustworthy AI in Healthcare in Dubai

The Yathiqu project successfully concluded its third Policy Council on Trustworthy AI in Healthcare in Dubai, generously hosted by Prime Health. The project team extends sincere appreciation to Jaleel Rahiman and the senior leadership team for facilitating an engaging, practitioner-led dialogue on the future of AI in healthcare.

A Multidisciplinary Dialogue

The session brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, administrators, IT and AI specialists, policymakers, educators, and patients. This multidisciplinary participation enabled rich discussions and deepened the collective understanding of what it means to develop and deploy trustworthy AI in real-world healthcare settings.

Throughout the session, a clear message emerged: trustworthy AI in healthcare requires cross-speciality collaboration, shared responsibility, and continuous system learning.

Key Insights

Participants highlighted several critical considerations for the responsible implementation of AI:

• Human Oversight as Essential
  Maintaining human authority to override AI systems, particularly in emergency or uncertain situations, is crucial for safety and trust.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
  Effective AI deployment requires coordinated efforts from diverse teams before, during, and after implementation.
• Preparedness for AI Failures
  AI failure modes must be anticipated, clearly communicated, and regularly tested to ensure system resilience.
• Governance and Vetting Mechanisms
  Dedicated structures for evaluating and monitoring AI systems are necessary to uphold accountability and trust.
• Value of Scenario-Based Design Thinking
  Interactive, scenario-driven discussions proved highly effective in surfacing real-world challenges and identifying practical solutions.

A Collective Effort

The Yathiqu team extends special thanks to Dr. Zeenath Reza Khan (Principal Investigator), Prof. Melodena Stephens (Co-Principal Investigator), and Jaleel Rahiman for their leadership and commitment to advancing this important dialogue.

Gratitude is also extended to key collaborators, including Nadir Kheir (Ajman University CCEE), Prof. Dr. Eman AbuKhousa (University of Europe for Applied Sciences Dubai), Dr. Heba Aboukhousa (MBZUH), and postdoctoral researcher Nicanor Mayumu, as well as supporting organizations such as Hlthera, Vectramind Corporation, and Pragyaa.ai.

Finally, the project acknowledges all participants, volunteers, and the wider Yathiqu team whose contributions made this Policy Council a success.

Moving Forward

The Dubai Policy Council represents another important milestone in the Yathiqu project’s mission to co-create practical, inclusive, and globally relevant frameworks for trustworthy AI in healthcare. Insights from this session will directly inform ongoing research, policy development, and future stakeholder engagements.

U.S. Policy Councils Advance Dialogue on Trustworthy AI in Healthcare

The Yathiqu project recently convened a series of U.S. Policy Councils on Trustworthy AI in Healthcare, bringing together experts and stakeholders across two major innovation hubs—San Francisco and Boston—to explore what it truly takes to build trustworthy AI systems in high-stakes healthcare environments.

Curated by Prof. Melodena Stephens, with the support of Dr. Zeenath Reza Khan and design contributions from Ing. Veronika Krásničan, these councils created space for critical, cross-sector dialogue on the ethical, social, and operational dimensions of AI in healthcare.

From San Francisco to Boston: A Collaborative Exploration

The first council, hosted at Databricks in San Francisco, focused on unpacking foundational challenges in AI systems. Participants:

• Identified varying perceptions of trust among stakeholders
• Examined “black box” issues across the AI lifecycle
• Debated key trade-offs and risks associated with AI deployment

The second council, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, deepened these discussions through interactive design thinking sessions. Participants:

• Explored human responses to AI in healthcare contexts
• Stress-tested core characteristics of trustworthy AI
• Distinguished between trade-offs and risks—an essential step for informed policymaking

Key Insights

Across both councils, several critical themes emerged:

1. Shifting Roles in Healthcare
   Doctors are increasingly spending time training AI systems, raising important concerns around privacy, consent, and professional responsibilities.
2. Accountability and Responsibility
   A central question persists: who is ultimately responsible for trustworthy AI—the developer, policymaker, or end user?
3. Data Integrity and Transparency
   High-quality data and transparent processes are non-negotiable foundations for building trust in AI systems.
4. Tension Between Care and Commercialisation
   The balance between patient care and financial incentives continues to shape how trust in healthcare AI is perceived and maintained.

One participant captured the urgency of the discussion succinctly: “We don’t have a trust gap… we have a trust vacuum.”

Looking Ahead

These policy councils represent a significant step forward in Yathiqu’s mission to develop practical, globally relevant frameworks for evaluating and governing trustworthy AI. The insights generated will directly inform ongoing research and future stakeholder engagements, contributing to more ethical, transparent, and human-centered AI systems in healthcare.

The Yathiqu team extends special thanks to Prof. Melodena Stephens for hosting and leading the curation of these impactful sessions.

Join the Yathiqu Design Thinking Policy Council on Trustworthy AI in Healthcare

As part of its ongoing work on advancing ethical and trustworthy AI, the Yathiqu project is organizing a Design Thinking Policy Council on Trustworthy AI in Healthcare in San Francisco.

This interactive session will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders from across the healthcare ecosystem to collaboratively explore what trustworthy AI means in practice. Through a series of eight curated activities, participants will engage in hands-on discussions and co-creation exercises, reflecting the perspectives of doctors, patients, administrators, AI developers, policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders.

The session is open to professionals working in or affiliated with the healthcare sector who have experience using or making decisions involving AI systems. While expertise in AI is not required, practical exposure to AI in healthcare settings is highly valuable.

Event Details

• Location: Databricks Office, San Francisco
• Date: 1 August
• Format: Interactive, design thinking-based policy session
• Capacity: Limited seats available

Participants are encouraged to register early to secure their place.

Registration link: https://lnkd.in/dXgvJQ3Y

Yathiqu Roundtable Explores Trust in AI at ECEIA 2025

The Yathiqu project successfully hosted a roundtable workshop titled “Exploring Trust in AI” during the European Conference on Ethics and Integrity in Academia (ECEIA 2025), organized under the European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI). The 60-minute hybrid session brought together 30 participants from diverse academic and professional backgrounds to examine the complex dimensions of trust in AI, particularly within healthcare contexts.

The workshop was designed as an interactive and reflective experience. It began with warm-up activities exploring human and machine decision-making, followed by a primer on key ethical challenges in AI, including transparency, bias, safety, and fairness. A focused case study then introduced real-world risks associated with AI in healthcare.

Participants engaged in collaborative group discussions based on six realistic healthcare scenarios, addressing issues such as emotional disconnect in AI chatbots, cultural insensitivity, algorithmic bias, lack of transparency, and system reliability in emergencies. These discussions were enriched through shared reflections via Padlet, group presentations, and contributions from online participants.

Building on this workshop, the Yathiqu team will organize a series of policy councils and stakeholder focus groups across the UAE and partner countries. These sessions will further refine and adapt the trust framework to diverse cultural and sectoral contexts, ensuring its global relevance and practical applicability.

The ECEIA roundtable marks an important step in shaping a future where AI systems are not only technically robust but also ethically grounded and socially trusted.

Yathiqu’s presence at the onboarding workshop for the 2024 Dubai RDI Grant Initiative

We were pleased to attend the onboarding workshop for the 2024 Dubai RDI Grant Initiative hosted by the DUBAI FUTURE FOUNDATION.

The Yathiqu AI project is proud to be among the 24 selected research projects out of 374 applications, representing the top 6% of submissions.

The workshop provided valuable opportunities to engage with fellow principal investigators, learn more about the breadth of funded research, and discuss pathways for meaningful collaboration across institutions and disciplines.

We extend our sincere thanks to the Dubai Future Foundation and the RDI Grants team for their commitment to fostering impactful research and for the support extended throughout this process.