The global healthcare sector stands at a critical juncture, navigating a technological inflection point that is as transformative as the digitisation of health records, yet far more perilous due to its clandestine nature. We are witnessing the rapid, unregulated, and often invisible integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the core workflows of medicine—a phenomenon collectively termed "Shadow AI." Unlike the Shadow IT of the past, which largely concerned the unauthor

The deployment of ambient intelligence (AI) systems in clinical environments necessitates a radical re-evaluation of informed consent principles. While existing protocols primarily address the passive recording of conversations for clinical documentation (ambient scribing), the Ambient Consent Protocol (ACP) is proposed to govern systems that engage in active, non-conscious environmental interventions. These systems actively modify physical modalities, such as light, sound, a