Currently submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Sep 24, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 24, 2026 - Nov 19, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Caring with Machines: Reimagining Relationships in Health and Social Care
ABSTRACT
The rapid development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence has transformed how humans and technologies interact. The rapidly developing field presents both promise and perils which require investigation. In this viewpoint, we suggest AI-driven digital health technologies are emerging as agents with capacity to shape decisions, influence relationships, and hold power within care dynamics. Drawing on traditions from Science and Technology Studies, and using integrated health and social care as a case context we ask: How does AI integration blur the boundaries of agency and shift power between human and non-human actors? By applying Actor-Network Theory, Structural Theory, and Critical Theory to this question, we offer some conceptual clarity on where power can exist within caring relationships in health and social care systems, and how AI can, often invisibly, influence those power structures. Implications for researchers studying AI-enabled health care delivery and practitioners adopting technologies are offered, concluding with a call to action for the field to make these invisible forces visible through careful and critical assessment.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.