Clinical trial AI agents show operational gains and raise ethical questions

AI agents reduce data mapping from 8-12 weeks to 2-3 weeks, with 'glass box governance'. New agent-based evidence synthesis (Atlas Discovery) and ML-driven patient stratification (multimodal signatures) demonstrate concrete gains. Patient recruitment emerges as a key bottleneck. A Delphi study on ethics of autonomous AI clinical trials calls for accountability and oversight. Anthropic's deal with Icon CRO and QuantHealth's $45M raise signal growing investment in trial automation.