2025 year in review: artificial intelligence in healthcare
4 minute read
chatgpt cannot act as a therapist for many reasons, both ethical and legal.
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every week throughout december, the healthing team will share some of our most memorable stories of 2025. in this edition, we take a look at artificial intelligence and its place in healthcare.
artificial intelligence, more notably known as ai, has been taking over industries across the globe rapidly in the last year. when it comes to healthcare, ai has found its place among other newer and more innovative technologies as a way to bridge access gaps, improve the patient experience, and in some cases, provide actionable advice to people seeking to improve their overall health with or without chronic disease.
we’ve spoken with industry experts all year to figure out how ai can help—or harm—healthcare, all to gain a better understanding for you, our readers, on how this breakthrough technology is reshaping the way people approach health, research and innovation in the medical space. we hope to keep you as up to date as possible and, with that, foster the trust that when ai is used for good, it can be a real game-changer.
here are all our picks for stories of the year revolving around ai and its use in the healthcare sector.
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future health index report: how ai can improve patient wait times and access to care
both patients and healthcare workers alike know that the healthcare system has drastically changed in recent years. from long wait times to reduced time spent speaking with doctors, and the level of burnout experienced by nurses, physicians and others working in the health sector have all been amplified significantly.
these negative changes impact all canadians, and the new future health index report by philips canada shows just how dire the situation is.
one alarming statistic reveals that canada has the longest average wait time to see a specialist compared to the global average, indicating that in a country once praised for its universal healthcare plans, free comes with a price.
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uhn foundation
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chatgpt is no therapist: how using ai in place of traditional therapy can be harmful
as many as one in five canadians will be diagnosed with a mental health condition in their lifetimes, typically by the age of 25. many of those conditions benefit from therapy, but wait times in the country can exceed five months or more, leaving people to either wait for the care they need or turn to other avenues.
one such tool that people have been using as a substitute for traditional therapy is chatgpt, an artificial intelligence assistant that can converse with people on a variety of topics, including their own mental health struggles.
while the actual number of people using the service in this way isn’t well documented, since it’s a new phenomenon, dr. alexandra gold, licensed clinical psychologist and member of the faculty at harvard medical school and massachusetts general hospital, notes that “a lot of people are turning to chatgpt” and “it’s becoming a problem.”
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opinion: expert-guided ai chat tools strengthen preventative healthcare
while much of the recent focus on artificial intelligence (ai) has been on its potential to jumpstart the canadian economy, this transformative technology also offers ground-breaking opportunities in healthcare. besides its potential to improve diagnostic accuracy, accelerate new drug discoveries and personalize treatment plans, ai can bolster preventive care and save healthcare dollars.
by using ai-powered tools like conversational assistants, healthcare professionals can make expert medical information more accessible to canadians – empowering them to take charge of their health.
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next-gen cancer research: canadian cancer society invests in the future of cancer detection and treatment
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the canadian cancer society and the lotte and john hecht memorial foundation recently announced a $3.6 million investment in 15 projects in canada selected by an international panel of experts and patients—who weighed in from a lived experience view on what breakthroughs would have the most impact.
these new disruptive innovations research grants provide $250,000 for high-risk, high-reward research that doesn’t typically receive funding from government agencies.
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study shows ai can tell how fast you’re aging—and how to slow it down
artificial intelligence (ai) is being used in all corners of medicine, and new insights into the technology may help fight accelerated aging.
a study conducted by researchers at king college’s institute of psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience in london, england, assessed different ai algorithms and machine learning systems to determine whether they could accurately predict a person’s potential health declines in aging and lifespan based on their current state of health. as it turns out, they can.
the researchers hope to utilize the results of the study and the ai machine learning algorithms to help create preventative measures for those who are aging faster than they should be based on their chronological age.
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