On Mar. 27, 2025, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) announced it is harnessing the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance patient care, streamline hospital operations and fuel Precision Child Health.  

SKAI is a flagship initiative of the SickKids 2030 Strategy and has three major components: an in-house service to develop and support AI systems intended for deployment, a research arm where scientists are using AI to accelerate discovery, and a community-building element that includes widespread AI literacy and knowledge sharing. 

An important part of SKAI is the SKAI Service – one of the most comprehensive healthcare AI services in Canada. It brings together multi-disciplinary expertise from across the organization to develop, assess, monitor and scale AI systems intended for deployment where it matters most – at the point of impact for patients, families and staff.  

Through the SKAI Service, AI systems undergo thoughtful development and assessment, prioritizing people-centred innovation and safe, ethical use, before being deployed in a clinical or operational setting.

An Adoption of AI Systems Policy requires that each AI system intended for clinical care, clinical operations or business operations passes through the SKAI Service for support, assessment, monitoring, and optimization aligned to responsible AI principles.