Artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are transforming healthcare, advancing diagnostics, drug development and easing the workload of healthcare professionals.
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Many European countries are already using AI in their healthcare systems. Finland, for example, uses it to train health professionals, Estonia applies it to the analysis of medical data and Spain uses it for disease detection.
On one point, experts are unanimous when they talk about artificial intelligence applied to health: it will never replace, or should never replace, a health professional.
“AI is already a reality for millions of health professionals and patients across the European Region,” Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said recently.
“But without clear strategies, data protection, legal safeguards and investment in AI culture and skills, we risk widening inequalities rather than reducing them,” he added.
With the many benefits that technological innovation brings to healthcare, there are also multiple risks: data protection, access to services and representation in algorithms.
AI across the healthcare system
There is also a shortage of health workers around the world, aggravated by the aging of the population, which is putting health systems under great pressure.
Some countries are already collaborating with AI companies to ease this pressure and facilitate access to care.
In January 2026, the Gates Foundation and OpenAI announced $50 million in funding, along with technology and technical support, to develop health AI capabilities in African countries. Starting with Rwanda, the goal is to reach 1,000 primary care centers by 2028.
Doctors in Europe are using AI note-taking tools to reduce time spent on reporting and administrative tasks, allowing them to spend more time with their patients.
We are also starting to develop AI for diagnosis, which could speed up the process and allow earlier access to treatments.
Beware of risks
But all that glitters is not gold. With the rapid rise of AI, concerns and warnings from experts are also increasing.
Recent research has shown that language models can be a potentially dangerous tool when seeking medical advice, as they do not always correctly assess the degree of urgency.
Experts have also warned about the sensitivity of biological data and the need for clear frameworks governing how AI models can access it.
In a recent report, WHO warns that gaps in legal accountability, uneven investment in health professional skills development and new risks of exclusion show the need for constant vigilance, cooperation and continued learning.
The organization notes that only 8% of its member states have adopted a specific national strategy for AI in health, “an urgent reminder that ambition must be accompanied by concrete actions”.
As technology evolves, the question may no longer be what AI can do in healthcare, but who decides how it is used, and for whom.
What happens when algorithms are trained on unrepresentative data? Who has access to the data used by AI models? Who should regulate all this, and how?
Experts working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and health will discuss these questions at the Euronews Health Summit on March 17 in Brussels.
