For AI health care to be successful, people have to be able to trust it

In Saudi Arabia’s eastern Al Ahsa region, patients have become the first to experience a glimpse of the future – a clinic where an AI “physician” assesses patients, offering diagnoses and treatment plans.

Yet even here, every AI-generated diagnosis and treatment plan passes through human hands for review and approval. While the AI system handles consultations autonomously, human physicians act as safety gatekeepers, reviewing each recommendation and intervening in scenarios that exceed the system’s offering. This groundbreaking trial underscores a lesson resonating across global health care: AI’s immense promise must be harnessed in ways that complement, not replace, human care.

Across health systems worldwide, a consensus is emerging: the real power of AI lies in augmenting, not substituting, health professionals. AI can process vast datasets, detect subtle patterns and make faster, more informed decisions but unlocking this potential hinges on something deeper: public trust.

A 2024 study of European healthcare users found that patients trust human doctors far more than AI-only systems, with nearly 80 per cent still preferring a doctor or a doctor supported by AI over fully autonomous AI-based care. This is not simply about familiarity – for many, it reflects discomfort with fast-moving technology, concerns about transparency and fears over losing the human judgment and context that define safe clinical care.

The American Medical Association adopts a similar position, arguing that new technologies be adopted with clear safeguards and appropriate oversight. In practice, this reveals that AI’s most important role is to amplify physicians’ capabilities by, for example, flagging a subtle pattern on an MRI or automating routine documentation. At the same time, doctors will continue to provide the final layer of clinical judgment and responsibility.

But trust alone is not enough. Just as vital is preparing the healthcare workforce to operate confidently in this AI-enabled world. This means equipping professionals not only with technical skills, but with the digital literacy to understand how algorithms function, where they may introduce risks and how to safely integrate AI into clinical pathways. Those with advanced AI competencies will not only safeguard care quality, they will also become essential to modern health systems – in-demand, adaptive and ahead of the curve. In Saudi Arabia, health education is already introducing AI-driven modules and simulations that equip clinicians with the skills to use these tools responsibly.

Globally, there is still work to be done. A recent World Health Organisation-backed study found that nearly 20 per cent of countries offer no digital skills training to their health professionals – a worrying gap in an era when AI tools are becoming ubiquitous.

Beyond the clinic, AI is also transforming system-level planning. The inter-professional competency system, iCare, developed by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, is driving the digital transformation in health and care workforce capability development. In the near future, it will offer integration with next‑generation health information management systems, AI‑powered clinical tools, telemedicine and 24/7 chatbot assistance.

By analysing data on patient needs and staffing levels, such tools help ensure that healthcare providers are optimally deployed, serving patients in the right places at the right times. Strategic planning powered by AI, from predicting specialty shortages to aligning training pathways, will be vital to building resilient, efficient healthcare systems. This requires educating practitioners on both the capabilities and limitations of AI, allowing innovation to advance alongside the human expertise and empathy that are essential to maintaining patient trust.

The challenge, of course, is maintaining public trust amid the accelerating pace of AI healthcare innovation and perhaps growing public familiarity with unregulated AI technologies in other areas. The last few years have seen an explosion of AI tools, from diagnostic algorithms to generative chatbots, often outpacing the guardrails that ensure safety and efficacy.

Global organisations such as the WHO have articulated ethical principles for AI in health, insisting that systems respect human dignity and rights, and promote equity, fairness and accountability. Yet even the WHO acknowledges the challenge for regulators to maintain pace with AI’s swift advances, calling for adaptive governance to manage risks without stifling beneficial innovation. The tension between moving fast and getting it right is very real. A single high-profile AI failure in patient care could erode public confidence for years. Transparency, rigorous validation, and clear ethical guidelines are thus not red tape; on the contrary, they are prerequisites for long-term public trust in digital health.

Saudi Arabia offers valuable lessons in navigating this complex terrain. The country has embraced AI within its health sector as part of its Vision 2030 transformation. It has coupled ambition with robust oversight and ethics. The Saudi Authority for Data and AI issued comprehensive AI Ethics Principles in 2023 to guide all stakeholders. These principles, covering fairness, transparency, privacy, humanity and more, align with global best practices and make clear that AI systems must be human-centric, safe and bias-free. In other words, even as Saudi institutions embrace AI, they are drawing hard lines around trust, safety and human dignity to ensure technology serves the public good.

Ultimately, this is not a choice between technological advancement and human leadership. It’s about building systems where intelligent tools extend professional capabilities, while ethical standards, public accountability and skilled human judgment remain firmly in control. If we can manage that balance, we will avoid a future where AI becomes a detached and mechanical replacement for personal patient care, and emerges rather as a powerful ally, guided by clinical wisdom and empathy that delivers accurate and trusted health care for all.