5.B. Round table: Improving digital health literacy in the era of generative artificial intelligence
Authors:   Organised by: EUPHA-HL, -HP, -DH, -ETH, -FS, -GH, IUHPE Working Group on Health Literacy, Technical University of Munich (Germany),   Chair persons: Don Nutbeam (Australia), Orkan Okan (EUPHA-HL)
Published: October 2024

Improved access to generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms and technologies has prompted greater awareness of their potential application in health communication. This workshop will examine this potential alongside the practical challenges and risks of using generative AI in health communication in the broader context of the European Union AI Act. The workshop will explore the implications for the concept of digital health literacy in ways that reduce or mitigate existing digital health inequities across and within Europe. Chatbots and conversational AI platforms such as ChatGPT have opened opportunities for people to find, understand and use health information in significantly different ways. Public health professionals are already using these technologies to simplify health and medical information and to make it available in different languages. AI assisted technologies are also being used to create interactive and engaging learning experiences that provide the public with real-time feedback and insights about their health as well as prompting and reinforcing actions they can take to improve health. These developments have fundamental implications for our understanding of digital health literacy and the methods we use to support people in optimising the potential benefits of AI. Different communities in Europe vary considerably in their

- access to digital technology,

- skills to discriminate the accuracy and reliability of information, and

- trust and responsiveness to what digital technologies have to offer.

Building these fundamental digital health literacy skills is a critical priority if we are to ensure that all people benefit equitably from the potential offered by AI. Those of us engaged in improving health literacy have an important role to play in influencing the future direction of AI in health communication, including and especially by engaging in research and development activities that build evidence of effectiveness and support the development of digital health literacy skills in parallel with the expansion of access to AI-assisted digital technologies. The workshop chairs will provide introductory and summary remarks, moderate the panel discussion, and facilitate audience participation in the workshop. The individual panel members will make 3-minute introductions to key issues from different perspectives on the emerging practical applications of generative AI in health communication as well as the implications for strategies to improve digital health literacy in different population groups. The panel is made up of individuals in different roles and at different career stages who can offer complementary perspectives on these issues. Following the presentations, the co-chair will present some follow-up questions to the Panel before engaging directly with the workshop attendees for an open but structured discussion scheduled to last for 30 minutes of the Workshop.

Key messages

• We will examine how generative artificial intelligence has opened new both new opportunities and risks in the ways people find, understand and use health information.

• We will consider how we can optimise the benefits of generative AI in a way that is equitable through the development of digital health literacy within and between communities in Europe.

Speakers/panelists

Catherine Jenkins

London South Bank University, London, UK

Diane Levin-Zamir

Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Christopher Le

Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Innlandet, Norway

Miguel Telo de Arriaga

Direção-Geral da Saúde, Lisbon, Portugal