Medical science has improved rapidly, raising life expectancy around the world, but as longevity increases, healthcare systems face growing demand for their services, rising costs and a workforce that is struggling to meet the needs of its patients. By 2050, one in five people in Asia will be over the age of 65 which implies that the health systems will have to deal with more patients with complex needs. Managing such patients with co-morbidities would requires systems to shift from an episodic care-based philosophy to one that is long-term care management.

The World Health Organisation has projected a shortfall of 9.9 million physicians, nurses and midwives globally by 2030 thus accentuating the need to attract, train and retain more healthcare professionals.

Over the past few years, the healthcare industry has made a strong case for the use of artificial intelligence to augment clinical decision-making to improve patient outcomes. Augmented Intelligence (AI) systems have the power to transform health care and bring us closer to the quadruple aim: enhancing patient experience, improving population health, reducing costs, and improving the work life of health care providers. Earning physicians’ trust is critical for accelerating adoption of AI into patient care. As technology evolves, the medical community will need to develop standards for these innovative technologies and re-visit current regulatory systems that physicians and patients rely on to ensure that health care AI is responsible, evidence-based, free from bias, and designed and deployed to promote equity.

While the number of AI systems used in health care has increased exponentially in recent years and numerous frameworks for ethical use and development of AI have been proposed, there is still no consensus on guiding principles for development and deployment of AI in health care. To harness the benefits that innovative technologies like AI can bring to health care, all stakeholders must work together to build the evidence, oversight, and infrastructure necessary to foster trust.