Intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Regenerative Medicine in Musculoskeletal (MSK) Diseases: A Narrative Review

Musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases present major health and economic challenges globally. Advancing age, diseases like osteoarthritis (OA), osteoporosis (OP), fracture and other conditions significantly reduce the quality of life (QOL) of these patients. Current pharmaceutical approaches are able to manage symptoms for some of these; however, they do not provide long-term solutions. Surgeries which are usually the final resort, present an added layer of challenges with the risk of post-surgical complications. The last couple of decades have observed an increase in the use of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) for bone tissue engineering (BTE) applications. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), there will inevitably be an intersection of AI with TERM for MSK conditions. As of 2025, AI is already in use for small-scale applications in BTE including data extraction, image analysis, scaffold design and fabrication using three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques. This review outlines the convergence of these three fields and discusses the potential of their intersection. The author describes the need for this convergence, a brief update of TERM in MSK in the last decade, followed by the potential of AI in MSK-TERM. The review concludes on the challenges and future directions of the emerging field and hopes to encourage bold and ambitious collaborations between industry, academia, hospitals and health-care start-ups to realize the potential of this unique intersection.