The first quarter of 2026 has underscored just how fast-moving and complex the healthcare AI space is.
With the launch of ChatGPT Health earlier this year, the penny has dropped that many large AI companies are hell bent on inserting themselves between patients and the health system. Using this disintermediation, the near-term goal is to collect patient data (which can be monetized through secondary use), and then direct consumers to products and services (which can be monetized through pay-per-click fees). Fast on the heels of the OpenAI announcement, health-specific LLM products have been announced by Amazon, Anthropic, and Microsoft), clear evidence of the strong commercial interest in this sector.
Both good and ill will come from these changes. If consumers have more equitable access to health information and services, there should be many health benefits. If this results in over-reliance on low quality for-profit virtual providers there will be problems, as we are seeing locally with easy online access to ADHD and other drugs. If our current high-quality evidence-based and regulated health information providers are undercut by these generative AI products, there are other risks. General purpose LLMs are still not ‘medical grade’ and so can make mistakes. They are still not regulated in the clinical space, and the large US players in the industry are working hard to avoid being regulated. It will be fascinating to see how this sector evolves over the rest of this year.
In Australia, we are seeing maturity and leadership from our local healthcare software industry. At the end of 2025 the MSIA and MTAA launched the Voluntary AI Governance Code and Accreditation Standard providing a framework for the safe, ethical development of non-TGA-regulated AI in Australia. It focuses on 10 voluntary guardrails—aligned with national AI standards—covering accountability, transparency, and data safety to ensure trustworthy clinical AI.
We are also seeing maturing AI capability and leadership from the jurisdictions. NSW has for example launched its AI Framework to guide health managers and staff to manage AI risks, and maximise benefits.
The Alliance’s focus over the last 3 months has been to complete its final consultations ahead of releasing the much anticipated Roadmap 3, which will focus on policy and practice gaps hindering the safe and effective implementation of AI in clinical services. After 2 rounds of consultation across the AAAiH membership, in February 2026 we completed final stakeholder meetings with 20 organisations. We anticipate a launch of Roadmap 3 in June.