Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: 2025 Year in Review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Breakthroughs in model architecture and the availability of data are driving transformational artificial intelligence in healthcare research at an exponential rate. The shift in use of model types can be attributed to multimodal properties of the Foundation Models, better reflecting the inherently diverse nature of clinical data and the advancing model implementation capabilities. Overall, the field is maturing from exploratory development towards application in real-world evaluation and implementation, spanning both Generative and predictive AI. Methods Database search in PubMed was performed using the terms “machine learning” or “artificial intelligence” and “2025”, with the search restricted to English-language human-subject research. A BERT-based deep learning classifier, pre-trained and validated on manually labeled data, assessed publication maturity. Five reviewers then manually annotated publications for healthcare specialty, data type, and model type. Systematic reviews, duplicates, pre-prints, robotic surgery studies, and non-human research publications were excluded. Publications employing foundation models were further analyzed for their areas of application and use cases. Results The PubMed search yielded 49,394 publications, a near-doubling from 28,180 in 2024, of which 3,366 were classified as mature. 2,966 were included in the final analysis after exclusions, compared to 1946 in 2024. Imaging remained the dominant specialty (976 publications), followed by Administrative (277) and General (251). Traditional text-based LLMs (1,019) led model usage, but Multimodal Foundation Models surged from 25 publications in 2024 to 144 in 2025, and Deep Learning models also increased substantially (910). For the first time, publications related to classical Machine Learning model use declined (173) in our annual review. Image remained the predominant data type (53.9%), followed by text (38.2%), with a notable increase in audio (1.2%) coinciding with the adoption of multimodal models. Across foundation model publications, Imaging (110), Head and Neck (92), Surgery (64), Oncology (55), and Ophthalmology (49) were leading specialties, while Administrative and Education categories remained high-volume contributors driven predominantly by LLM-based research. Conclusion 2025 signals a meaningful maturation of the healthcare AI research field, with publication volumes nearly doubling, classical ML yielding to higher-capacity foundation models, and the field rapidly moving beyond traditional text-based LLM capabilities toward multimodal models. While Imaging continues to lead in research output, the growth of multimodal models across clinical specialties suggests the field is approaching an inflection point where AI systems can more closely mirror the complexity of real-world clinical practice.

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