AI - From Promise to Practice: The Healthcare of Tomorrow

The era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is already shaping healthcare, and it is expected to progressively revolutionize healthcare delivery. Acknowledging this new reality, this session will first present the European Commission (EC) work on fostering the deployment of AI in healthcare, further diving in the identified challenges through these initiatives, such as the importance of local validation and questions of liability.

The EC will present its recent activities in this area, including recent studies on the Deployment of AI in healthcare (SANTE) as well as financial consideration in deploying AI (CNECT) and the work on the Commission’s Apply AI Strategy for the healthcare sector. The discussion will focus on the key challenges identified which are scattered across different fields: from regulatory complexity to building trust in the use of AI in healthcare. Also, during this discussion, it will be highlighted how the European Health Data Space could work as an enabler for the development and deployment of AI in healthcare and the opportunities that AI brings to improve healthcare and support competitiveness.

The session will further discuss which steps should be taken to address existing challenges in the near future. This will include discussion on the outline of a blueprint for building trust and public acceptance of AI in healthcare in the European Union (EU). This includes critical aspects of AI deployment such as local performance validation, post-deployment monitoring, patients’ rights, and the evolving roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals. As AI technologies directly and indirectly impact patients’ care and safety, we will also touch upon pressing questions of liability — an essential pillar for the safe and trusted future use of AI in hospitals and clinics.