The Artificial Intelligence Revolution and Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities

This editorial reviews the rise of artificial intelligence since the launch of large language models in late 2022, a period in which Sudan was engulfed by war. It traces AI from Turing’s question and the 1956 Dartmouth Conference to Deep Blue and AlphaGo, and outlines three areas of benefit in healthcare: diagnosis, treatment and medical data management. It weighs these against the risks — over-reliance on machines, biased data, privacy and ethics — and discusses AI in medical education and in scientific research and publishing. It argues that Sudan should adopt AI more widely through university curricula, investment in AI-based technologies, and laws and regulations that facilitate and govern its use.