Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data have emerged as transformative forces in modern healthcare, redefining how clinical data is interpreted, decisions are made, care is delivered, and health of individuals, families, and communities is advanced. This chapter includes the historical evolution of AI in healthcare, clarifies foundational definitions, compares rule‑based and data‑driven approaches, differentiates embodied and disembodied systems, contrasts statistical methods with deep learning, introduces generative AI, explores algorithms, data quality, and explainability in depth, discusses ethical considerations and human oversight, presents real‑world use cases, and concludes with future directions.