PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Human Factors and Digital Health
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1524553
This article is part of the Research TopicEthical and Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence in Public Health: Balancing Innovation and PrivacyView all 7 articles
Generative AI in Healthcare: Challenges to Patient Agency and Ethical Implications
Provisionally accepted
- 1Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
- 2Uppsala University, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
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Clinical research is no longer a monopolistic environment wherein patients and participants are the sole voice of information. The introduction and acceleration of AI-based methods in healthcare is creating a complex environment where human-derived data is no longer the sole mechanism through which researchers and clinicians explore and test their hypotheses. The concept of selfagency is intimately tied into this, as generative data does not encompass the same person-lived experiences as human-derived data. The lack of accountability and transparency in recognizing data sources supporting medical and research decisions has the potential to immediately and negatively impact patient care. This commentary considers how self-agency is being confronted by the introduction and proliferation of generative AI, and discusses future directions to improve, rather than undermine AI-fueled healthcare progress.
Keywords: agency, artificial intelligence, brain imaging, Survey, database
Received: 03 Feb 2025; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Holmes, Faria and Moulton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Scott Holmes, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.