Co-designing an educational framework to foster meaningful patient and caregiver engagement in AI research and development to enable compassionate healthcare technology

Meaningful patient engagement in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development is crucial to ensure technologies support compassionate, inclusive healthcare—but it remains rare. Many patients and caregivers describe feeling unprepared and unsupported to contribute effectively. Meghan’s project collaborates with patients, caregivers and AI experts to identify knowledge gaps, review existing resources, and determine what’s missing. The result will be an educational roadmap to guide the co-creation of resources helping patients and caregivers understand, evaluate, and influence how AI technologies are developed and used in healthcare. In doing so, Meghan’s team aim to support patients and caregivers, so they feel equipped to meaningfully engage in shaping the future of healthcare. Compassion is central to this work—both in how the project is conducted and in its goal of researching and developing AI tools through respectful and collaborative processes creating outputs that reflect patient and caregiver values, lived experience, and human connection.