GENEVA, Oct. 26, 2025: At the conclusion of the AI Regulatory and International Symposium 2025 (AIRIS 2025) in Incheon, Republic of Korea, the World Health Organization (WHO), the country’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and a coalition of regulators, industry and academic partners issued a joint appeal for enhanced global cooperation to advance the safe, ethical and equitable use of artificial intelligence in health care.
The four-day symposium brought together senior officials from national regulatory agencies, health ministries, AI developers and research institutions under the theme “Regulation for AI, Together for Tomorrow.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that with the growing complexity of AI applications in health care, regulatory systems “must match that growth” to ensure systems are safe, effective and equitable. According to WHO’s official news release, the gathering built on the previous AIRIS event in Seoul in 2024.
In its formal Outcome Statement, AIRIS 2025 calls for a full life-cycle regulatory approach covering AI tools from design and development through clinical evaluation, manufacturing, performance monitoring and post-market surveillance. Participants highlighted the need for regulation that is proportionate to risk and tailored to the context of national health systems, along with stronger international alignment to reduce regulatory gaps between countries.
The statement also advocates for transparent algorithms, high-quality representative data, consistent performance across diverse populations and mechanisms for accountability and auditability. These elements were discussed in breakout sessions designed to share regulatory frameworks and best-practice case studies for medical AI devices and decision-support tools. Discussions included shared registries of AI products, common evaluation check-lists and joint training programmes for regulators tasked with overseeing adaptive learning systems.
Equity and fairness take center stage in AI health discussions
The aim is to build interoperable oversight tools that enable regulators in different jurisdictions to rely on shared evidence and harmonised assessment processes. The symposium also addressed the challenge of fairness, particularly including under-represented populations in AI development and deployment. Delegates underscored the importance of equitable access, stressing that AI systems must not inadvertently reinforce health-care disparities.
WHO and MFDS announced they intend to continue co-hosting AIRIS in the coming years in order to maintain momentum and extend global participation in regulator-industry-academia dialogues. The coordination is intended to support sustained global governance of AI in health, buttress frameworks for evaluation, and foster adoption by countries at various levels of technological maturity.
The AIRIS meeting comes amid increasing global focus on AI technologies in health settings, including diagnostics, medical imaging, workflow automation and predictive analytics. Earlier this month, WHO published commentary noting significant evaluation, regulation and monitoring gaps in many health-care AI tools and called for urgent action to strengthen governance.
WHO calls for stronger cooperation among regulators and developers
Participants at AIRIS 2025 included regulators from multiple WHO regions, representatives of industry associations, academic researchers and civil-society actors focused on digital health. The event provided a platform for exchanging national regulatory models and aligning technical standards, without introducing binding legal mechanisms or new treaties.
By emphasising collaboration, lifecycle oversight and equity, the joint appeal reflects a coordinated effort by global health and regulatory stakeholders to shape the responsible deployment of AI in health care. The converging focus on transparent performance, representative data and shared evidence aims to support countries implementing AI-enabled medical products in a manner consistent with patient safety, ethics and universal access objectives. – By EuroWire News Desk.