Envisioning a Future Where Healthcare Tech Leaves Some Behind: An MIT Student’s Cautionary Tale
Can the promise of AI-driven healthcare improvements coexist with the potential for exacerbating existing inequalities? This question was at the heart of Annaliese Meyer’s winning entry in MIT’s Envisioning the Future of Computing Prize.
For the third consecutive year, MIT challenged its students to envision the future impact of computing advancements, both positive and negative. Meyer, a PhD candidate in Oceanography and Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, drew inspiration from research highlighting the crucial role of gut microbiomes in overall health.
Her concept, “B-Bots,” are synthetic bacterial mimics regulated via Bluetooth, designed to optimize gut health. Meyer’s submission to the contest took the form of speculative fiction, exploring the unintended consequences when revolutionary healthcare technology becomes entangled with a subscription-based profit model.
In her paper, titled “(Pre/Sub)scribe,” Meyer narrates the experiences of both the creator of B-Bots and a user named Briar, who benefits from the supplement’s ability to manage vitamin deficiencies and chronic conditions like acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome. However, the introduction of a subscription model casts a shadow over this success story. Meyer explains, “It seemed like a perfect opportunity to hopefully make clear that in a for-profit health-care system, even medical advances that would, in theory, be revolutionary for human health can end up causing more harm than good for the many people on the losing side of the massive wealth disparity in modern society.” It’s important to note that Meyer’s opinions are her own and do not represent the official views of any affiliated institutions.
Meyer’s perspective is also shaped by her experiences with healthcare systems in both Canada and the United States, observing the differences in cost and coverage, particularly during her mother’s cancer treatments in British Columbia.
Beyond the cautionary tale about healthcare equity, Meyer also hopes to convey a scientific message about the complexity of gut microbiomes. Inspired by her thesis work in ocean metaproteomics, she emphasizes the intricate interactions within microbial communities and their responses to environmental changes.
Meyer, who received a grand prize of $10,000, found the essay writing and presentation preparation exceptionally valuable, stating, “The chance to explore a new topic area which, though related to my field, was definitely out of my comfort zone, really pushed me as a writer and a scientist. It got me reading papers I’d never have found before, and digging into concepts that I’d barely ever encountered.”
The Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC), a cross-cutting initiative of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), co-sponsored the prize with support from MAC3 Philanthropies. This year’s contest attracted 65 submissions from a diverse range of disciplines across MIT.
Caspar Hare, associate dean of SERC and professor of philosophy, initiated the prize in 2023 to encourage students to consider the broader societal implications of their work in computing, stating the goal is “to encourage MIT students to think about what they’re doing, not just in terms of advancing computing-related technologies, but also in terms of how the decisions they make may or may not work to our collective benefit.”
The judging panel included Marzyeh Ghassemi, associate professor; Caspar Hare, associate dean of SERC and professor of philosophy; Jason Jackson, associate professor; Brad Skow, professor of philosophy; Armando Solar-Lezama, Distinguished Professor of Computing; and Nikos Trichakis, associate dean of SERC and J.C. Penney Associate Professor of Management.
Runners-up included Martin Staadecker and Juan Santoyo. Eight honorable mentions were also awarded.
For more information, you can watch Annaliese Meyer’s video here.
