At AI forum, experts urge pharmacy to balance innovation, safety and human oversight

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence in healthcare is creating new opportunities for community pharmacy—but also urgent questions about safety, accountability, regulation and the future role of pharmacists.Those issues were at the centre of a recent forum on Advancing Safe and Responsible AI Adoption in Community Pharmacy Practice, hosted by the Network for Improving Health Systems (NIHS), a collaboration between the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. In addition to highlighting NIHS-funded research led by Zubin Austin and Abi Sriharan, the forum included perspectives from presenters and panelists—including heath-tech entrepreneurs, regulatory bodies and pharmacy employers—on the implications of AI for pharmacy and Canada's healthcare system. The forum showcased AI-enabled tools already being used or developed for pharmacy, including clinical assistants, drug information supports, workflow tools and medication delivery technology. Presenters repeatedly stressed that AI should support—not replace—clinical judgment.Isha Singh, Pharmacy Solutions & Partnerships manager at MedEssist, framed the question not as “What can AI do?” but where technology can reduce fragmentation “without introducing new risk or instability.” She described MedEssist’s Lumi Clinical Assistant as a support tool rather than a decision-maker, with “no autonomous clinical action” and a required human in the loop.Kenny Chan, co-owner of Aiskyra described AI as a way to help pharmacists make faster, safer clinical decisions, particularly in areas such as drug information, minor ailments and prescription intake. He noted that while hallucinations cannot be eliminated completely, they can be thoughtfully controlled through design, including by constraining systems to verified drug information sources and providing citations.Even as safeguards evolve, broader concerns remain around how AI is being adopted across the board. A central theme was the need to strike a careful balance between innovation and risk. With AI adoption escalating, speakers noted that regulation has struggled to keep pace—creating uncertainty around how these tools should be used and governed in practice. "No one developing AI needs a license to do anything," said Zubin, who is a professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. "There is more regulation that went into the sandwiches you're going to have for lunch than what is going into AI now."At the same time, there was broad recognition that AI could play a role in addressing persistent healthcare access challenges across Canada, provided there are standards in place to protect patient safety. Navigating that balance is shifting how responsibility is being shared across the system. Rather than working in silos, speakers emphasized the importance of developing partnerships that support safe, effective and accountable AI use—while still allowing innovation to move forward.A cross-disciplinary panel—including representatives from pharmacy, dentistry and psychotherapy—reflected the broader healthcare challenges ahead in developing standardizations around AI. The consensus was a need for regulators, educators, employers, entrepreneurs and patients to be part of the conversation.Looking ahead, Sriharan, scientific director and senior scientist, AI and Organization at York University's Schulich School of Business, cautioned against viewing AI as a quick fix for healthcare challenges, as organizations continue to struggle with implementation. “These are powerful tools, but without the right governance and organizational design, they don’t get used effectively,” she said.Pointing to past experiences with electronic medical records that don't sync patient information, she emphasized a much needed shift towards building the right infrastructure—through workforce training, regulatory alignment and thoughtful system design—before scaling AI solutions.

At AI forum, experts urge pharmacy to balance innovation, safety and human oversight

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