The Importance of Artificial Intelligence Literacy in Nursing and Midwifery to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: Perspectives From the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) which was established in 1945 to further international cooperation by promoting peace, championing human rights, and supporting social progress for all (United Nations 2025a). In 2015, all UN member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which includes seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlining key local, measurable, and sustainable actions for individuals and institutions to take to achieve global progress by 2030 (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). Two of the SDGs focus on good health and wellbeing (SDG3) and quality education (SDG4) which have specific targets for UN member states to work toward and are highly relevant to the nursing and midwifery professions (Fields et al. 2021; Hawkins et al. 2024). As liaisons and youth representatives to the UN for Sigma Nursing, we had the privilege of attending key events during this year's UN General Assembly, where we heard firsthand about the progress made on the SDGs and advocated for more investment in nursing and midwifery to accelerate their achievement. Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing is a global nursing organization with more than 100,000 active members across 100 countries, representing nursing and midwifery leaders from education, research, clinical practice and policy across its 600+ chapters worldwide (Sigma Theta Tau International 2025a). Sigma was granted a special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2012 in recognition of its expertise in nursing and global health, enabling it to access nearly all intergovernmental processes at the UN, including participating in the General Assembly each year (Sensor et al. 2021). As part of this affiliation and acting in our liaison and youth representative roles, we are able to provide a strong nursing presence at the UN by delivering position statements, acting as subject matter experts, and hosting side events and meetings alongside various UN proceedings throughout the year. We also undertake a range of outreach activities to help nurses everywhere understand and contribute to the SDGs. Given the discussions we heard at this year's UN General Assembly on health and education, and the fact that the UN established two new mechanisms this year to promote international cooperation on the governance of artificial intelligence (AI) (United Nations 2025b), we felt it timely to highlight the importance of AI literacy in nursing and midwifery to achieve the SDGs. AI is an evolving technological trend that comprises advanced computational techniques such as machine learning and natural language processing which are used to analyze and understand digital data. These AI techniques and their associated AI models and tools are enabling better decision making and more efficient delivery of services (Dwivedi et al. 2023). However, they are not without limitations and risks as AI can cause issues related to bias, data privacy, cybersecurity, sustainability, and accountability among others (Ning et al. 2024; World Health Organization 2021). Despite this, the development and application of AI have been gathering pace in nursing and midwifery in particular since the arrival of generative AI tools and large language models (LLMs) in 2023 (O’Connor et al. 2023; Woo et al. 2024). For instance, AI scribing technologies are being introduced to improve the quality and speed of clinical documentation captured in electronic health records which could free up the time of nurses and midwives to focus on patient care while reducing errors, leading to better patient safety and staff wellbeing (Cleveland Clinic 2025; Ng et al. 2022). AI-powered nursing virtual assistants are also being developed and deployed to help nurses find information and evidence-based resources they need to deliver care within complex hospital systems (Schanilec 2025). However, nursing and midwifery education has not kept up with developments in AI, and numerous studies show low levels of AI literacy among nurses, midwives, and students (He et al. 2025; Özçevik Subaşi et al. 2025; Sengul and Sariköse 2025; Sumengen et al. 2025). This could affect the adoption and use of AI-based technologies across the professions, limiting their potential transformative impact on health and care. Although there have been calls for more investment in nursing informatics education for many years (McNeil et al. 2005; O’Connor and LaRue 2021; Shen et al. 2024), progress has been slow due to numerous barriers, such as limited time and expertise among nursing and midwifery faculty, leadership who do not recognize the value and importance of informatics education, regulatory bodies with outdated education and professional practice standards, and a lack of funding among others (Harerimana et al. 2021; Lilly et al. 2015; McNeil et al. 2005). As AI continues to advance and becomes more embedded in healthcare, now is the time to invest in improving digital and AI literacy in the nursing and midwifery workforce in every country, so we can develop bespoke AI tools that nurses and midwives need as well as leverage existing AI-based technologies to improve health and care. For example, SDG3 on good health and wellbeing has a range of targets to meet by 2030 from reducing maternal mortality to improving early warning systems for global health risks (United Nations 2025c). By empowering nurses and midwives with AI literacy, we could see improvements in maternal health. Although it is influenced by a myriad of socioeconomic and geo-political factors, the use of AI-enabled point-of-care ultrasounds that offer more accurate diagnoses and AI-based telephone messaging interventions that support pregnant mothers with pre and post-natal care (Owoche et al. 2025) could improve some maternal outcomes. Nurses and midwives could also help develop and deploy AI predictive models and tools to identify women at risk of complications during pregnancy or screen them to identify those at higher risk of gynecological and other health issues (Edmonds 2023) to speed up referral to appropriate services. While accessing high-quality healthcare remains complex, these novel approaches could be beneficial in regions of the world where maternal morbidity and mortality rates are high to reduce the global burden of disease and improve women's health. This was a hot topic at the recent UN General Assembly, as it celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a UN resolution adopted to further gender equality and women's rights (UN Women 2025). Enhancing AI literacy in nursing and midwifery would also have knock-on benefits from SDG4 which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable high-quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. Two of its key targets are universal literacy and numeracy and increasing the numbers of people with relevant technical and vocational skills to enable them to attain educational and employment opportunities for long-term success (United Nations 2025c). As the largest occupational group in healthcare with over 29 million nurses and midwives worldwide (World Health Organization 2025), training both professions in the technical and applied areas of AI would directly contribute to improving literacy levels in healthcare. It would also further professional development and leadership opportunities for nurses and midwives as they could pioneer AI-based technologies across many areas of clinical practice, education, and research, pursue more senior roles such as Chief Nursing/Midwifery Informatics Officer (CNIO/CMIO) (Sanchez-Pinto et al. 2017), attain research funding to generate evidence on AI in nursing and midwifery practice, and develop and implement policies and strategies to support digital and AI initiatives across the nursing and midwifery workforce (Cummins et al. 2021). Furthermore, given the close relationship nurses and midwives have with patients and families, they could also pass their AI expertise onto those accessing healthcare services. This would indirectly progress digital literacy levels globally which could in turn further global health as patients adopt AI-based tools to support chronic and infectious disease management, helping to achieve SDG3 (Schwalbe and Wahl 2020; Wahl et al. 2018). The UN launched its global dialogue on AI governance at a high-level multi-stakeholder informal meeting at the UN General Assembly on 25th September 2025 which will be the main platform for member states and other stakeholders to discuss critical issues on AI (United Nations 2025b). In our liaison and youth representative roles, we can leverage this new UN mechanism to advocate for more investment in digital and AI literacy to support the nursing, midwifery and wider health workforce worldwide in pursuit of the SDGs. It is clear that new local, national, and international initiatives are urgently needed to progress digital and AI literacy in nursing and midwifery so that students and practitioners get the support they need to understand AI and apply AI-based technologies in healthcare. Nurses working in higher education institutions are starting to teach students and practitioners about AI (Tseng et al. 2025; Reid 2025), while others are setting up collaborative partnerships and networks such as the AI Nurses Network to deliver free training on AI and data science to nurses and midwives (O’Connor et al. 2025). Sigma has also created a new online continuing professional development course called “Technology and Innovation in Healthcare” which includes some AI curricula and is available for free for members (Sigma Theta Tau International 2025b). These initiatives will no doubt help advance AI literacy in nursing and midwifery, but more are needed to reach all corners of the globe and every level of both professions from front line to advanced practitioners, to managers and directors of services, researchers, educators, and policy makers. Therefore, we call on nursing and midwifery leaders everywhere to heed the UN's work on the SDGs and invest in AI literacy and informatics education for the nursing and midwifery workforce to further global health. We would like to thank all those who contribute to the Sigma Foundation for Nursing's Future Fund as this supports the activities of Sigma's Liaisons and Youth Representatives to the United Nations. We would also like to acknowledge the support of Megan LoGreco, Manager of Sponsorships and Global Partnership, at Sigma and the support of Sigma's International Board of Directors (i.e., Sandra C. Garmon Bibb, Liz Westcott, Gloria Chan, Nancy Rollins Gantz, Kathleen Brady, Debra Anderson, Diana-Lyn Baptiste, Thomas Kearns, Jennifer Saylor, Elizabeth Weathers, Jennife Graber, and Lucas M. Davis) who ensure Sigma's Liaisons and Youth Representatives to the United Nations remain a key element of the international honor society. Clinical resources: Sigma's Liaison to the United Nations and Youth Representative roles and how to apply for these can be accessed here: https://www.sigmanursing.org/connect-engage/our-global-impact/sigma-and-the-united-nations/un-representatives. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors have nothing to report.