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Artificial Intelligence as a Core Public Health Competency: Proposal and Perspectives in Education and Research
ABSTRACT
The continuous development of artificial intelligence (AI) presents unprecedented opportunities for public health and prompts educators and researchers to consider how AI can be applied and integrated in a rapidly evolving global landscape where AI is reshaping health systems. This generates an urgent need for structured proposals that bridge theory and practice. In this viewpoint, we present perspectives and proposals on AI application in public health education and research. For education, we describe how AI can support learners, teachers and organisations through personalised learning experiences, dynamic scenarios, immersive simulations, content preparation and communication strategies. For research, we analyse how AI can be embedded as a transversal enabler supporting the WHO Essential Public Health Functions. We emphasise that AI should enhance, rather than replace, human capabilities and propose that AI literacy should be recognised as a core public health competency. We suggest that harnessing AI for public health education and research is, therefore, less a technological challenge than a collective responsibility shared by educators, researchers, and institutions.
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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.