At a recent Community Data Roundtable’s ‘Data Talk,’ Dr. John Lyons, Director of the Center for Innovation in Population Health, shared his insights on both the potential (and possible pitfalls) of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
Dr. Lyons has been at the forefront of human services data for over 30 years. Among his relevant accomplishments are inventing the TCOM Assessment Suite (e.g., the CANS, ANSA, and FAST), developing the data science of communimetrics, and participating in large-scale implementations where his data and analysis are used in real-world scenarios.
The topic of AI has become especially relevant to human services, given the most recent AI innovations. For example, the power of ChatGPT (a popular chatbot) is fascinating: it provides a nuanced scoring of most of the items, including more difficult notions like trauma responses and secondary gain behaviors.
While Dr. Lyons has extolled the potential benefits of AI, such as improved precision with our public service system, he has cautioned that AI should not be allowed to operate independently of human intelligence.
With that said, Dr. Lyons warned against “predictive analytics,” i.e. utilization of computer information systems, to optimize certain predictions of individual fate. Structural inequalities of society can become "hard-baked" in such automated processes.
Instead, Dr. Lyons recommended AI tools for improved “precision.” He provided examples of programs that use AI to understand the nuances of a population and target interventions appropriately and timely.
Dr. Lyons also discussed the development of tools which can actively listen to clinical interviews and generate drafts of CANS ratings for client families and clinicians to review and utilize in treatment plan building.
The Center for Innovation in Population Health (IPH-C)
The Center for Innovation in Population Health (IPH-C), through collaborative relationships with key partners, strives to identify a common set of priorities and a well-developed strategy to address improvements in population health.
These relationships involve multiple sectors and partners at the University of Kentucky, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the United States, and the international community, with a focus on building a portfolio of research, evaluation, and dissemination/implementation (D&I) initiatives to support and enhance the important work being done in the field.
Learn more about our unique approach to population health at iph.uky.edu
The University of Kentucky College of Public Health is undergoing a review by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) for re-accreditation. Part of this process includes the invitation to provide third-party comments. Anyone, including students, alumni, employers, community partners, etc., is allowed to share relevant information about the college directly with CEPH. If you would like to provide input to CEPH to inform their review, send your comments to submissions@ceph.org by May 4th, 2025.
