Helena Machado closes the semester of the Master’s in Sociology at University of Minho.
The open lecture titled “Facial AI in Healthcare: between care, surveillance, and the market” will take place on May 28, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Helena Machado will speak about the growing use of facial AI in healthcare and the fundamental sociological questions it raises regarding power and social control. The roots of these technologies intersect with infrastructures for biometric identification and mass surveillance developed for military and public security contexts, as well as commercial digital platforms. When transferred into medicine and healthcare, facial AI carries technical, epistemic, and political legacies aimed at classifying bodies, managing populations, and extracting value.
The lecture will also examine how the digital health market promises that facial AI can deliver faster diagnoses, more efficient triage, and personalized services. These promises are framed within an aesthetic and vocabulary of care oriented toward the essentialization of the face and the reductionism of behavior, both endowed with market value. In this context, the human face becomes both a clinical surface and a commercial asset, without this dual function being made visible, much less open to contestation.
The lecture will be held at the University of Minho as part of the Master’s Degree in Sociology Seminar course. Admission is free. You may attend the lecture in person (Building 1 – Room 0.17, Campus Gualtar, Braga).
For more information about Helena Machado, click here:
