At the 3rd a2 National Symposium held at the Harvard Club of Boston, Marzyeh Ghassemi, PhD, delivered a plenary address examining the ethical challenges and opportunities of AI in aging and dementia care as part of the session titled “Machine Learning and AI Methods for Aging and Dementia Care.” Dr. Ghassemi is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on fair and transparent machine learning systems in healthcare.

‍

Introduced by Benjamin Marlin, PhD, professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and associate director of MassAITC, Dr. Ghassemi addressed how data and algorithmic biases can propagate disparities in diagnosis and treatment. She emphasized the importance of ethical AI deployment, fair training practices, and mindful human–AI collaboration to avoid unintended harm—especially in underrepresented populations.

‍

Watch the full video above to hear her insights on designing and deploying AI for ethical impact in real-world clinical settings.