<p>Trust plays a central role in the doctor-patient relationship, and the informed consent mechanism is one of the primary mechanisms for building trust in the domain of healthcare. Yet, procedural formalism reduces the consent behavior to a requirement of mere formality. Despite limited medical knowledge, patients are often compelled to bear disproportionate responsibility for clinical decisions. Such formalization not only undermines the essence of informed consent but also erodes the normative foundation for doctor-patient interactions. Furthermore, due to the complex allocation of legal responsibility, the ambiguous exculpatory role of consent, and physicians’ tendency to avoid liability, defensive medical practices such as over-prescription or excessive examinations compound these problems by eroding communication, deepening mutual suspicion, and weakening the ethical and practical foundations of healthcare. The crisis of trust surrounding informed consent reflects the deeper structural limitations of the existing consent regime. Rather than treating these failures as isolated defects, this article suggests an AI-supported approach to informed consent that embeds transparency, traceability, and patient empowerment into the consent process. Drawing on China’s experience with digital health platforms and blockchain-based medical records, it demonstrates how AI can function as an infrastructural safeguard for transparency and traceability. Taken together, this approach shows how AI-supported informed consent can be reconfigured as a robust institutional commitment capable of sustaining trust.</p>