Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping health research, offering opportunities to accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen health systems, and improve health outcomes. At the same time, without robust ethical safeguards and oversight, AI‑related research could introduce risks that undermine human rights, equity, and public trust.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report titled Artificial Intelligence‑related Health Research: Ethics Review and Oversight, which provides recommendations for researchers, ethics committees, regulators, funders, and policy‑makers to ensure that AI‑enabled health research is conducted responsibly. The report was developed by WHO experts in research ethics, science, digital health, and AI.
According to the publication, AI is already transforming how health data are analyzed, how research is conducted, and how new technologies are developed and evaluated. However, existing ethics oversight mechanisms may not always be equipped to address risks such as transparency, bias, fairness, accountability, privacy, and potential harms from rapid deployment of AI tools.
The report categorizes AI‑related health research into three areas: health research using data with AI, research with AI tools and technologies, and health research on AI tools and technologies. It emphasizes the need for stronger ethical oversight across the research lifecycle, from study design and ethics review to publication, regulation, and implementation.
The report highlights that research ethics committees (RECs) will continue to play a central role in protecting participants but may require additional expertise, training, and resources to review increasingly complex AI‑related studies. It also underscores the responsibility of researchers to identify and mitigate ethical risks early, communicate transparently, and consider broader societal implications.
Beyond ethics committees, the publication points to the role of funders, journals, data governance bodies, professional societies, and regulatory agencies in promoting responsible AI‑related health research and addressing systemic challenges that cannot be managed through project‑by‑project review alone.
The report also examines challenges in low‑ and middle‑income countries, noting that while AI has potential to address persistent health issues, much of today’s AI research and technology development remains concentrated in higher‑income settings. Strengthening local leadership, capacity, and participation will be critical to ensuring equitable benefits and avoiding new forms of exclusion.
WHO describes the report as a starting point for strengthening ethics oversight in the era of AI‑related health research and supporting the development of future standards, guidance, and governance approaches.
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