The challenges of health inequities and AI

•Health AI algorithms already played a role in creating and perpetuating health inequities among millions of people.•Certain algorithmic structures may potentially worsen health inequities.•Large real-world datasets often reflect biases and can create a feedback loop that worsens health inequities.•Various solutions to rectify some problems of biased algorithms and data exist, but many problems remain unsolved.•Awareness of health inequities is key to not worsening them with AI.