# A Risk Taxonomy and Reflection Tool for Large Language Model Adoption in Public Health

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.02594 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02594/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 43 of its 172 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Nov 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 43)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [SQuAD: 100,000+ Questions for Machine Comprehension of Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.05250/) (2016)
- [Know What You Don't Know: Unanswerable Questions for SQuAD](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.03822/) (2018)
- [RealToxicityPrompts: Evaluating Neural Toxic Degeneration in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.11462/) (2020)
- [A Survey on Evaluation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.03109/) (2023)
- [QuAC : Question Answering in Context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.07036/) (2018)
- [Co-Writing Screenplays and Theatre Scripts with Language Models: An Evaluation by Industry Professionals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14958/) (2022)
- [Sociotechnical Harms of Algorithmic Systems: Scoping a Taxonomy for Harm Reduction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.05791/) (2022)
- [AI Transparency in the Age of LLMs: A Human-Centered Research Roadmap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.01941/) (2023)
- [Conversing with Copilot: Exploring Prompt Engineering for Solving CS1 Problems Using Natural Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.15157/) (2022)
- [Human-AI Collaboration in Data Science: Exploring Data Scientists' Perceptions of Automated AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.02309/) (2019)
- ["It's a Fair Game", or Is It? Examining How Users Navigate Disclosure Risks and Benefits When Using LLM-Based Conversational Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.11653/) (2023)
- ["I'm fully who I am": Towards Centering Transgender and Non-Binary Voices to Measure Biases in Open Language Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.09941/) (2023)
- [Large Language Models to Identify Social Determinants of Health in Electronic Health Records](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06354/) (2023)
- [A Toolbox for Surfacing Health Equity Harms and Biases in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.12025/) (2024)
- [Is Stack Overflow Obsolete? An Empirical Study of the Characteristics of ChatGPT Answers to Stack Overflow Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.02312/) (2023)
- [Which Linguist Invented the Lightbulb? Presupposition Verification for Question-Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00391/) (2021)
- [Benefits and Harms of Large Language Models in Digital Mental Health](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.14693/) (2023)
- [Transitioning to human interaction with AI systems: New challenges and opportunities for HCI professionals to enable human-centered AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05424/) (2021)
- [Improving Human-AI Collaboration With Descriptions of AI Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.06937/) (2023)
- [Advancing Human-AI Complementarity: The Impact of User Expertise and Algorithmic Tuning on Joint Decision Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.07960/) (2022)
- [Personalization in Goal-Oriented Dialog](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.07503/) (2017)
- [Why and When LLM-Based Assistants Can Go Wrong: Investigating the Effectiveness of Prompt-Based Interactions for Software Help-Seeking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.08030/) (2024)
- [Intent Mining from past conversations for conversational agent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11014/) (2020)
- [A Human-Centered Review of the Algorithms used within the U.S. Child Welfare System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.03541/) (2020)
- [A Framework of Severity for Harmful Content Online](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.04401/) (2021)
- [Toward Supporting Perceptual Complementarity in Human-AI Collaboration via Reflection on Unobservables](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.13834/) (2022)
- [Lived Experience Not Found: LLMs Struggle to Align with Experts on Addressing Adverse Drug Reactions from Psychiatric Medication Use](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.19155/) (2024)
- [An Evaluation of Generative Pre-Training Model-based Therapy Chatbot for Caregivers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.13115/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [When AI Says "I have been in similar situations": Synthetic Lived Experience in Peer-Like Caregiver Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.18057/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent breakthroughs in large language models (LLMs) have generated both interest and concern about their potential adoption as information sources or communication tools across different domains. In public health, where stakes are high and impacts extend across diverse populations, adopting LLMs poses unique challenges that require thorough evaluation. However, structured approaches for assessing potential risks in public health remain under-explored. To address this gap, we conducted focus groups with public health professionals and individuals with lived experience to unpack their concerns, situated across three distinct and critical public health issues that demand high-quality information: infectious disease prevention (vaccines), chronic and well-being care (opioid use disorder), and community health and safety (intimate partner violence). We synthesize participants' perspectives into a risk taxonomy, identifying and contextualizing the potential harms LLMs may introduce when positioned alongside traditional health communication. This taxonomy highlights four dimensions of risk to individuals, human-centered care, information ecosystem, and technology accountability. For each dimension, we unpack specific risks and offer example reflection questions to help practitioners adopt a risk-reflexive approach. By summarizing distinctive LLM characteristics and linking them to identified risks, we discuss the need to revisit prior mental models of information behaviors and complement evaluations with external validity and domain expertise through lived experience and real-world practices. Together, this work contributes a shared vocabulary and reflection tool for people in both computing and public health to collaboratively anticipate, evaluate, and mitigate risks in deciding when to employ LLM capabilities (or not) and how to mitigate harm.