Abstract This research commentary explores how requirements engineering (RE) can contribute to achieving digital humanism in AI-enabled healthcare, ensuring that technological innovation is balanced with human values. Drawing on insights from a panel discussion at the REWBAH’25 (RE for Well-Being, Aging, and Health) workshop, we identify four key themes: the necessity of interdisciplinary collaboration, the nuances of cultural and individual differences, human-AI collaborative decision-making, and the challenge of balancing technological advancement with sustainability and emotional considerations. We argue that RE is well suited for addressing these issues because it brings together diverse stakeholder perspectives to define what systems should achieve and how they should be used. In this paper, we build on digital humanism principles, on RE-relevant frameworks for AI, and on the above themes to frame the role of RE in supporting human-centred healthcare. We highlight open challenges, and outline five promising research directions and related research questions to guide future research and practice in RE, aiming to ensure that AI-enabled healthcare systems better reflect the values of digital humanism.

Human barriers were found to impede the acceptance, adoption, or effective use of technology, manifested as under-usage of systems, non-compliance with regulations, short-term use of behavioral change systems, and more. These barriers can be overcome only by meeting appropriate requirements. However, such requirements are frequently overlooked. Different visual models are offered for supporting the derivation of requirements from, e.g., goals and emotions; however, we found no visualization techniques that support the elicitation and specification of requirements derived from known human barriers. The recruitment of Service Design visualization methods for visually expressing such barriers may help bridge this gap. This paper presents this vision and a demonstration for the case of Electronic Health Records, utilizing the Causal Loop Diagram to represent clinicians’ barriers when using a system. The visualization enabled by the diagram allows, for example, identification of use cases in which the system output may be overloaded with information (inducing cognitive overload) and still lacking relevant information (e.g., patient information beyond their clinical data), ultimately leading to suboptimal clinical decisions. This demonstration indicates the promise of this approach for eliciting frequently missed requirements rooted in users’ cognitive barriers.

The design thinking (DT) method has gained interest among software development organizations that strive towards better realization of user experience by building relationships, observing user behavior, and understanding user needs. Previous studies addressed the importance of DT in software-intensive development projects, mainly for realizing fuzzy needs of different stakeholders, better understanding problems before rushing to solutions, and enhancing creativity in innovation processes. The present research investigated whether and how a small dose of DT, e.g. a workshop, can facilitate requirements elicitation of an organization's business process. The paper presents an exploratory case study of a DT workshop on procurement process requirements conducted in a large technological organization specializing in the de-velopment of hardware and software systems. The study revealed that applying the DT method and tools promoted the discussion among the various stakeholders and allowed different voices to be heard, leading to new requirements regarding the business process, from both human and technical perspectives. Following the case study, we propose a general DT workshop for addressing business challenges. We argue that such a workshop can foster creativity and innovation in the context of business process requirements elicitation, addressing both human and technical concerns.