The congress made it clear that toxicology and regulatory risk assessment are evolving quickly, with a strong emphasis on scientific judgement, transparency, and regulatory confidence. Day 1 highlighted the integration of AI into toxicology. The message was that while AI is becoming an essential part of the workflow, supporting literature review, data extraction, evidence structuring, gap identification, and test prioritisation, it still cannot replace domain expertise or expert judgement. For responsible use, the infrastructure surrounding AI is just as important as the tool itself. Traceable inputs and outputs, audit trails, robust guardrails, and expert oversight are all vital. When used properly, AI can be a powerful enabler, but its role is to assist, not replace, scientific judgement.
On Day 2, the focus shifted towards the future of chemical safety assessment and the transition to smarter, less animal-intensive approaches. The conversations centred around the possibility of replacing traditional animal-based testing with more ethical and scientifically advanced methods, all while ensuring public health remains uncompromised. Presentations explored repeat dose toxicity classification using in silico and bioactivity data, challenges to the binary carcinogen or non-carcinogen model, and the current progress of NAMs in endocrine disruption assessment. While EATS modalities show encouraging developments, newer areas like metabolic disruption are still in their early stages.
Throughout both days, a common theme emerged. The field is moving toward hypothesis-driven, weight-of-evidence frameworks that integrate various evidence streams and focus on asking more relevant, targeted questions rather than simply repeating mandated tests. The discipline is clearly in transition, with AI, NAMs, in silico models, and bioactivity data all playing pivotal roles. Ultimately, their success will hinge on transparency, expert interpretation, and regulatory acceptance.
With science advancing so rapidly, the next big challenge will be ensuring that regulatory frameworks can adapt and keep pace, all while continuing to protect public health.