Medical AI beyond borders

As artificial intelligence moves deeper into China's hospitals, the debate surrounding medical AI increasingly resembles an older conversation in global health — "How to balance innovation with safety, national ambition with responsibility, and technological speed with public trust?"

For Christoph Benn, a veteran of international health cooperation and one of the founders of the Global Fund, these questions are familiar. Having worked for decades with governments, United Nations agencies, and healthcare systems across Asia, Africa, and Europe, he views China's current medical AI push as part of a longer global trajectory rather than a departure from it.

"Artificial intelligence can make healthcare more effective and more efficient," Benn, director of the JLI Center for Global Health Diplomacy based in Geneva, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily. "But those benefits are not automatic. AI has to be used responsibly, according to clear guidelines and standards, so that people can trust it."