The European Qualified Person: Legal Accountability, Quality Leadership, and AI Integration in Modern Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Navigating Complex Therapies and AI-Supported Oversight to Safeguard Patient Safety.

The European Qualified Person (QP) holds unique legal responsibility for certifying batch release, ensuring patient safety, and maintaining regulatory compliance. Modern pharmaceutical manufacturing-especially in biologics, advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), and personalized medicines-generates complex, multi-site, data-rich environments that challenge traditional oversight. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers predictive analytics, anomaly detection, and trend recognition to support decision-making but cannot currently replace the QP's scientific judgment or legal accountability. The forthcoming Annex 22 introduces Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) frameworks that embed human oversight within AI-supported processes, aligning technological advancement with regulatory control. This review explores evolving QP responsibilities, core and emerging competencies, AI integration within Quality Risk Management (QRM) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) frameworks, and ethical considerations, illustrated with practical case studies. By developing AI literacy and applying HITL oversight, QPs can more effectively translate technological potential into transparent, science-based, and patient-centered batch-release decisions.