E204: Human-Centered AI: Designing Intelligence That Aligns With Us

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly woven into everyday life, the real question isn’t just what AI can do — it’s what it should do for humans. In this episode, Dr Andree Bates interviews Dr Morteza Zihayat of Heisenberg Network to explore Human-Centred AI: designing intelligent systems that prioritise welfare, autonomy, dignity and trust over pure technical capability.

Morteza explains how his background in data mining led to a key insight: numbers can be incredibly powerful, but they still “miss the mark” when human values are ignored. That perspective shaped his work in Human-Centred AI and helped inspire Heisenberg Network, a decentralised infrastructure designed to transform fragmented, messy data into high-quality, AI-ready intelligence — in minutes rather than weeks — while dramatically reducing cost.

The conversation digs into what human-centred design looks like in practice. Morteza introduces a “ladder of priorities” to manage conflicting values — from safety and laws at the top, through ethics and platform policies, down to individual preferences — and argues that making this ladder public gives people a right to debate and appeal decisions when something feels wrong.

Finally, Morteza tackles the unavoidable trade-offs between performance and fairness, sharing a real example from mental health research where reducing model accuracy produced a fairer system that clinicians felt more comfortable using. His key message is urgent: powerful AI is coming either way — making it human-centred is a choice we need to commit to now, with transparency becoming non-negotiable.

Topics Covered

• What Human-Centred AI means in practice

• Turning user stories into concrete design checks

• The “ladder of priorities” for managing conflicting values

• Designing systems for welfare, autonomy, dignity and trust

• Power caps and keeping AI controllable

• Personalisation vs wellbeing (and avoiding filter bubbles)

• Where bias enters: data, models, and feedback loops

• Debiasing pipelines and fairness as real-world data shifts

• Learning from users without storing raw personal data

• Explainability challenges with reasoning models

• Why transparency is becoming non-negotiable

• When less accuracy can be the more responsible choice

About the Podcast

AI for Pharma Growth is a podcast focused on exploring how artificial intelligence can revolutionise healthcare by addressing disparities and creating equitable systems. Join us as we unpack groundbreaking technologies, real-world applications, and expert insights to inspire a healthier, more equitable future.

This show brings together leading experts and changemakers to demystify AI and show how it’s being used to transform healthcare. Whether you're in the medical field, technology sector, or just curious about AI’s role in social good, this podcast offers valuable insights.

AI For Pharma Growth is the podcast from pioneering Pharma Artificial Intelligence entrepreneur Dr Andree Bates created to help organisations understand how the use of AI based technologies can easily save them time and grow their brands and business. This show blends deep experience in the sector with demystifying AI for all pharma people, from start up biotech right through to Big Pharma. In this podcast Dr Andree will teach you the tried and true secrets to building a pharma company using AI that anyone can use, at any budget.

As the author of many peer-reviewed journals and having addressed over 500 industry conferences across the globe, Dr Andree Bates uses her obsession with all things AI and futuretech to help you to navigate through the, sometimes confusing but, magical world of AI powered tools to grow pharma businesses.

This podcast features many experts who have developed powerful AI powered tools that are the secret behind some time saving and supercharged revenue generating business.

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