The World Health Organization has published Artificial intelligence and evidence-informed policy – emerging challenges and opportunities, a discussion paper examining how AI is reshaping the way health policy is made and what is needed to ensure those changes strengthen, rather than weaken, the evidence base on which decisions rest.

"The policy conversation on AI has focused on clinical care. This paper redirects attention to where the evidence base is actually being shaped: how problems are defined, how options are designed, how impact is assessed. Member States need a common framework for governing AI across that entire cycle. This paper provides a starting point.” said Dr Alain Labrique, Director of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI at WHO.

The new paper, developed jointly by the Department of Data, Digital Health, Analytics and AI and the Department of Science for Health, sets out to fill the gap. It is intended to be applicable to a diverse audience, including policy-makers, regulators, health managers and AI developers.