25 years of AI in neurology: from prediction to biological breakthroughs — review of progress since 2000
Summary
JMIR Neurotech published a comprehensive 25-year retrospective of AI applications in neurology from 2000 to 2025, documenting the progression from early expert systems for seizure detection to current LLM-based clinical decision support, foundation models for neural signals, and AI-guided neuromodulation. The review identified three distinct eras: expert system AI (2000-2010), machine learning AI (2010-2020), and foundation model AI (2020-2025), with each era producing a 10x improvement in neural signal interpretation capabilities.
Why it matters
A 25-year longitudinal perspective on AI in neurology provides the historical context for understanding current capabilities and projecting future ones. The three-era framework — expert systems, ML, foundation models — suggests a fourth era (agentic AI neurology) is beginning in 2025-2030, where AI agents autonomously conduct clinical neurological assessments, order relevant tests, and recommend treatment plans without physician involvement at each step.
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