Title : Master or servant? global health challenges and opportunities in the age of AI
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping global health, presenting a defining question for policymakers, clinicians, educators, and communities alike: Will AI become a master that deepens inequities and displaces human judgement, or a servant that amplifies human capacity to improve health and wellbeing for all. This session explores the critical challenges and transformative opportunities that AI introduces across prevention, care delivery, public health, and health system governance in a globally interconnected world. AI-driven tools already promise earlier diagnosis, personalised prevention strategies, more efficient health services, and accelerated research and discovery. In low and middle-income countries, AI has the potential to extend scarce expertise, strengthen surveillance, and support community-based care. At the same time, these advances raise profound concerns. Algorithmic bias, data ownership, privacy, workforce disruption, and unequal access risk reinforcing existing global health disparities. Without thoughtful design and governance, AI may prioritise efficiency over equity, technology over trust, and scale over compassion. Drawing on global health, lifestyle medicine, ethics, and systems thinking, this presentation argues that the future impact of AI depends less on the technology itself and more on the values that guide its development and deployment. We examine who designs AI, whose data are used, who benefits, and who is left behind. Particular attention is given to the implications for healthy ageing, prevention-focused care, and the integration of AI into culturally diverse health systems. The session proposes a practical framework for ensuring that AI remains a servant to global health goals: Human-centred design, transparent governance, interdisciplinary education, and global collaboration. By aligning AI innovation with principles of equity, sustainability, and person-centred care, global health leaders can harness AI not as a replacement for human wisdom, but as a powerful ally in addressing some of the most complex health challenges of the 21st century. This discussion invites delegates to critically engage with AI’s role in shaping the future of global health and to help decide who, ultimately, is in control.
