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Advancing rheumatic disease care through generative artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence promises to reshape clinical care in rheumatology by supporting diagnostic reasoning, treatment planning and patient communication. Yet its potential rests on careful validation, transparent integration and thoughtful collaboration that strengthens, rather than substitutes, the human expertise central to patient care.

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Acknowledgements

J.A.S. is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (grant numbers R01 AR080659, R01 AR077607, P30 AR070253 and P30 AR072577), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes (grant number R01 HL155522), the R. Bruce and Joan M. Mickey Research Scholar Fund, and the Llura Gund Award funded by the Gordon and Llura Gund Foundation. All listed funders had no role in the preparation or decision to publish this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jeffrey A. Sparks.

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J.A.S. has received research support from Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen, and Sonoma Biotherapeutics unrelated to this work. He has performed consultancy for AbbVie, Amgen, Anaptys, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, Inova Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, MustangBio, Optum, Pfizer, ReCor, Sana, Sobi, and UCB, none of which are relevant to the present work. D.W.B. reports grants and personal fees from EarlySense, personal fees from CDI Negev, equity from ValeraHealth, equity from Clew, equity from MDClone, personal fees and equity from AESOP, personal fees and equity from Feelbetter, equity from Guided Clinical Solutions, and grants from IBM Watson Health, none of which are relevant to the present work. D.W.B. has a patent pending (PHC-028564 US PCT), on intraoperative clinical decision support. A.M. and K.P.L. declare no competing interests.

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Mahajan, A., Bates, D.W., Liao, K.P. et al. Advancing rheumatic disease care through generative artificial intelligence. Nat Rev Rheumatol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-025-01310-0

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