Will the right storm of probably life-changing, artificial intelligence-driven health care and the need to extend profits through subscription models alienate vulnerable patients?
For the third 12 months in a row, MIT’s Envisioning the Way forward for Computing Prize asked students to explain, in 3,000 words or fewer, how advancements in computing could shape human society for the higher or worse. All entries were eligible to win a variety of money prizes.
Inspired by recent research on the greater effect microbiomes have on overall health, MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography and Applied Ocean Science and Engineering PhD candidate Annaliese Meyer created the concept of “B-Bots,” an artificial bacterial mimic designed to control gut biomes and activated by Bluetooth.
For the competition, which challenges MIT students to articulate their musings for what a future driven by advances in computing holds, Meyer submitted a piece of speculative fiction about how recipients of a revolutionary recent health-care technology find their treatment in jeopardy with the introduction of a subscription-based pay model.
In her winning paper, titled “(Pre/Sub)scribe,” Meyer chronicles the usage of B-Bots from the angle of each their creator and a B-Bots user named Briar. They have fun the results of the complement, helping them manage vitamin deficiencies and chronic conditions like acid reflux disorder and irritable bowel syndrome. Meyer says that the introduction of a B-Bots subscription model “gave the look of an ideal opportunity to hopefully clarify that in a for-profit health-care system, even medical advances that will, in theory, be revolutionary for human health can find yourself causing more harm than good for the various people on the losing side of the large wealth disparity in modern society.” Meyer also states that these opinions are her own and don’t reflect any official stances of affiliated institutions.
As a Canadian, Meyer has experienced the differences between the health care systems in the USA and Canada. She recounts her mother’s recent cancer treatments, emphasizing the associated fee and coverage of treatments in British Columbia compared to the U.S.
Except for a cautionary tale of equity within the American health care system, Meyer hopes readers take away a further scientific message on the complexity of gut microbiomes. Inspired by her thesis work in ocean metaproteomics, Meyer says, “I believe loads about when and why microbes produce different proteins to adapt to environmental changes, and the way that is determined by the remainder of the microbial community and the exchange of metabolic products between organisms.”
Meyer had hoped to take part in the previous 12 months’s contest, however the time constraints of her lab work put her submission on hold. Now within the midst of thesis work, she saw the competition as a solution to add some variety to what she was writing while keeping engaged together with her scientific interests. Nonetheless, writing has at all times been a passion. “I wrote loads as a child (‘creator’ actually often preceded ‘scientist’ as my dream job while I used to be in elementary school), and I still write fiction in my spare time,” she says.
Named the winner of the $10,000 grand prize, Meyer says the essay and presentation preparation were extremely rewarding.
“The possibility to explore a brand new topic area which, though related to my field, was definitely out of my comfort zone, really pushed me as a author and a scientist. It got me reading papers I’d never have found before, and digging into concepts that I’d barely ever encountered. (Did I even have any real understanding of the patent process prior to this? Absolutely not.) The presentation dinner itself was a ton of fun; it was great to each have the option to have fun with my friends and colleagues in addition to meet people from a bunch of various fields and departments around MIT.”
Envisioning the longer term of the computing prize
Co-sponsored by 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), with support from MAC3 Philanthropies, the competition this 12 months attracted 65 submissions from undergraduate and graduate students across various majors, including brain and cognitive sciences, economics, electrical engineering and computer science, physics, anthropology, and others.
Caspar Hare, associate dean of SERC and professor of philosophy, launched the prize in 2023. He says that the article of the prize was “to encourage MIT students to take into consideration what they’re doing, not only by way of advancing computing-related technologies, but in addition by way of how the choices they make may or may not work to our collective profit.”
He emphasized that the Envisioning the Way forward for Computing prize will proceed to stay “interesting and essential” to the MIT community. There are plans in place to tweak next 12 months’s contest, offering more opportunities for workshops and guidance for those thinking about submitting essays.
“Everyone is worked up to proceed this for so long as it stays relevant, which could possibly be perpetually,” he says, suggesting that in years to return the prize could give us a series of historical snapshots of what computing-related technologies MIT students found most compelling.
“Computing-related technology goes to be transforming and changing the world. MIT students will remain a giant a part of that.”
Crowning a winner
As a part of a two-stage evaluation process, all of the submitted essays were reviewed anonymously by a committee of college members from the faculty, SHASS, and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. The judges moved forward three finalists based on the papers that were deemed to be essentially the most articulate, thorough, grounded, imaginative, and provoking.
In early May, a live awards ceremony was held where the finalists were invited to offer 20-minute presentations on their entries and took questions from the audience. Nearly 140 MIT community members, relations, and friends attended the ceremony in support of the finalists. The audience members and judging panel asked the presenters difficult and thoughtful questions on the societal impact of their fictional computing technologies.
A final tally, which comprised 75 percent of their essay rating and 25 percent of their presentation rating, determined the winner.
This 12 months’s judging panel included:
- Marzyeh Ghassemi, associate professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science;
- Caspar Hare, associate dean of SERC and professor of philosophy;
- Jason Jackson, associate professor in political economy and concrete planning;
- 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.
The judges also awarded $5,000 to the 2 runners-up: Martin Staadecker, a graduate student within the Technology and Policy Program within the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, for his essay on a fictional token-based system to trace fossil fuels, and Juan Santoyo, a PhD candidate within the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, for his short story of a field-deployed AI designed to assist the mental health of soldiers in times of conflict. As well as, eight honorable mentions were recognized, with each receiving a money prize of $1,000.
