Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of avoidable blindness among adults globally, and screening programmes can enable early diagnosis and prevention of progression. Artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic solutions have been developed to diagnose diabetic retinopathy. The aim of this review is to identify ethical concerns related to AI-enabled diabetic retinopathy diagnostics and enable future research to explore these issues further. ⋯ While the technical developments in AI-enabled diabetic retinopathy diagnostics receive the bulk of the research focus, we found that insufficient attention is paid to how this technology is accessed equitably in different settings and which safeguards are needed against exploitative practices. Such ethical issues merit additional exploration and practical problem-solving through primary research. AI-enabled diabetic retinopathy screening has the potential to enable screening at a scale that was previously not possible and could contribute to reducing preventable blindness. It will only achieve this if ethical issues are emphasised, understood, and addressed throughout the translation of this technology to clinical practice.