Eleven nations, one table: Southeast Asia is writing the rulebook for AI in medicine

In Manila late last month, delegates from all eleven ASEAN member states sat down for the region's second working meeting on artificial intelligence in health — and left with a shared to-do list: a validated assessment of how ready each country is for medical AI, a draft regional action plan covering research, governance, and training, and policy recommendations headed to ASEAN's science committee this quarter. The gathering, led by Philippine science secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. as part of the country's 2026 ASEAN chairmanship, is about writing the guardrails before the rush: making sure AI tools in clinics are safe, fair, and actually useful across very different health systems. It feeds into the ASEAN Responsible AI Roadmap running to 2030.