The role of artificial intelligence in managing COVID-19 and long COVID: a narrative review

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had an unprecedented global impact, resulting in both positive and negative consequences. The virus not only affected millions of lives worldwide but also caused long-term harm to multiple organ systems in many survivors, thereby substantially impairing quality of life. This persistent condition is now referred to as long COVID (LC). The aim of this study is to raise awareness of LC-related organ system impacts and to highlight the key role of artificial intelligence (AI) in mitigating these effects. The present research conducts a narrative review focusing on LC-related impacts. In this context, unstructured searches were conducted to identify a total of 69 relevant studies indexed in Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, or Scopus, each of which was reviewed by at least 2 experts with sufficient domain knowledge in health sciences. Based on the authors' perspectives and insights, the review narratively examines damage to human organ systems attributable to LC and explores the role of AI in addressing LC-related challenges. Significant ethical, practical, and societal concerns arising from the extensive use of AI, particularly major issues such as data privacy and algorithmic bias, are also discussed. LC has caused lasting impacts on human organ systems, while AI is offering substantial potential for LC-related care.