This special issue presents a collection of reviews on the recent advancements and applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine and physiology. The topics covered include digital histopathology, generative AI, explainable AI (XAI), and ethical considerations in AI development and implementation. The reviews highlight the potential of AI to transform medical diagnostics, personalized medicine, and clinical decision making, while also addressing challenges such as data quality, interpretability, and trustworthiness. The contributions demonstrate the growing importance of AI in physiological research and medicine, the need for multi-level ethics approaches in AI development, and the potential benefits of generative AI in medical applications. Overall, this special issue showcases some of the the pioneering aspects of AI in medicine and physiology, covering technical, applicative, and ethical viewpoints, and underlines the remarkable impact of AI on these fields.