Dr. Yves Saint James Aquino
Doctor and philosopher of medicine, ethicist, social scientist
Print interviews
What to know before saying yes to your doctor using AI
By Amy Sheehan for ABC Lifestyle
Nearly one in four GPs nationally are believed to be using AI digital scribes for note-taking. The ABC spoke with Dr Yves Saint James Aquino about the ethical and regulatory issues raised by AI digital scribes.
Published 6 August 2025
Some clinicians are using AI to write health records. What do you need to know?
The Conversation
Prof Stacy Carter, Prof Farah Magrabi and Dr Yves Saint James Aquino talk about the ethics and safety issues raised by digital scribes that use large language models with generative capabilities.
Published 5 September 2024
Why do we see beauty as virtuous and ugliness as a problem to be fixed? Two philosophers explain
By Anna Levy for The Philosopher’s Zone
Think of a storybook villain. The Phantom of the Opera, Ursula the Sea Witch, the Evil Stepmother. They all have something in common: Ugliness.
Physician and philosopher Yves Saint James Aquino says it’s not enough to pursue being beautiful — there’s also mounting social pressure to avoid being seen as ugly.
Published Sun 4 Feb 2024
Artificial intelligence is already in our hospitals. 5 questions people want answered
The Conversation
Prof Stacy Carter, Emma Frost, Prof Farah Magrabi and Dr Yves Saint James Aquino draw on studies about consumer views to discuss concerns about using AI in hospital care.
Published 30 November 2023
A deep dive into the many ethical questions raised by celebrity before-and-after surgery content on Instagram
By Yasmin Jeffery for ABC Everyday
The ABC talked to Dr Yves Saint James Aquino about ethical and psychosocial issues raised by social media accounts that post about celebrity cosmetic surgery before-and-afters.
Published 28 September 2023
How beauty became a damaging obsession
By Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Siobhan Marin for Face Value
Reporters chat with Dr Yves Saint James Aquino about the ethics of cosmetic surgery, and drivers of body modification practices.
Published Fri 3 Jun 2022
It’s vital to combat COVID ‘vaccine hesitancy’, says UOW bioethicist
By Lisa Wachsmuth or the Illawarra Mercury
Dr Yves Saint James Aquino urged people to look to credible sources, not conspiracy theories, with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine imminent.
Updated September 21 2023 – 1:54am, first published February 11 2021 – 5:00pm
Audio interviews and podcast guestings
Philosopher’s Zone: Beauty and AI
Beauty is a complicated and problematic concept – and AI isn’t making things any simpler. AI-powered beauty apps are becoming increasingly popular, as people use them to evaluate, rate and enhance their facial appearance in selfies and other images. But exactly what’s going on behind the technological wizardry raises a host of troubling ethical and philosophical concerns.
Guest: Kate Crawford, Professor, USC Annenberg, Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, and founder of the Knowing Machines Project
Interviewer: Yves Saint James Aquino
Producer: Yves Saint James Aquino, David Rutledge.
Brought to you by the ABC Radio National
Philosopher’s Zone: The pathology of ugliness
There are plenty of our facial and bodily features that we don’t necessarily like – but does this make them aberrations requiring medical intervention? As the cosmetic surgery industry goes from strength to strength, the answer increasingly appears to be Yes. This week we discuss the elevation of beauty to a moral imperative, and the corresponding pathologisation of physical traits deemed to be ugly.
Guest: Yves Saint James Aquino, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Australian Centre for Health Engagement, Evidence and Values, University of Wollongong
Producer: David Rutledge
Brought to you by the ABC Radio National
Philosopher’s Zone: What beauty apps are doing to us
Beauty apps are becoming more and more miraculously high-tech, but also more and more invasive. You might feel OK about an app that gives your face a “beauty rating”, but what if the app started to recommend cosmetic surgery procedures? Or how about a selfie enhancement app that doesn’t just get rid of minor skin blemishes, but actually alters the shape of your face to suit and algorithmically determined ideal?
Guest: Yves Saint James Aquino, philosopher and bioethicist at the University of Wollongong
Producer: David Rutledge
Brought to you by the ABC Radio National
Pathologizing ugliness & the aesthetics of health: talking with Yves Aquino
In this episode Chris Mayes and Jane Williams talk with Dr Yves Saint James Aquino about his work on the ethics and philosophy of pathologization of ugliness, cosmetic surgery and race, and the norms of health and beauty.
Face Value: Empowerment or exploitation?
The decision to get cosmetic enhancement is complicated. It could be triggered by childhood bullying, influenced by social media, or stem from a belief that you’re not good enough.
Guests:
Yves Saint James Aquino – physician and philosopher who researches the ethics of cosmetic surgery.
Gemma Sharp – clinical psychologist, a researcher in cosmetic procedures and body image.
Heather Widdows – moral philosopher, author of Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal.
Presented by Siobhan Marin
Brought to you by ABC Radio National
Face Value: Ethnic ambiguity and the Kardashian effect
Celebrities like the Kardashians are leaning into an ethnically ambiguous aesthetic. Is this cultural appropriation or cultural appreciation? What do people of colour, who’ve often been racially vilified for their appearance, have to say about others cherry-picking their features?
Guests:
Yves Saint James Aquino — Asian Australian physician and philosopher who researches the ethics of cosmetic surgery
Natasha — Middle Eastern Australian who’s had numerous cosmetic procedures
Presented by Siobhan Marin and Tahlea Aualiitia
Brought to you by ABC Radio Nationall