AI-enhanced therapeutic drug monitoring for vancomycin and β-lactam antibiotics in critical care: from population PK to bedside algorithms

INTRODUCTION: Although sepsis and other severe infections in intensive care are common and deadly, obtaining safe and effective exposure for vancomycin and broad-spectrum β-lactams is difficult because of substantial kinetic variability, operational difficulties with AUC-guided therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and model‑informed precision dosing (MIPD), and the limited effectiveness of current tools on patient-centered outcomes. AREAS COVERED: This is a narrative review of exposure-response correlations, vancomycin and β-lactam kinetic targets, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven dosing tools and TDM/MIPD in patients in intensive care units (ICUs) and other high-acuity settings. From 2005 to 2025, we searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and Google Scholar for English-language research, recommendations, and methodological publications on TDM, MIPD, AI, and machine learning (ML). This review summarized information on early AI-enabled clinical decision support systems, AUC-guided vancomycin TDM, β-lactam TDM in high-risk patients, and AI models that predict drug concentrations, AUC, acute kidney injury (AKI), and composite outcomes. EXPERT OPINION: Most AI models are single-center, retrospective, and surrogate-focused. By incorporating validated AI components into multicentre procedures that prioritize explainability, data quality, usability, and prospective assessment, it has the greatest immediate advantage of enhancing guideline-aligned AUC-guided TDM and population pharmacokinetic (PopPK)//Bayesian frameworks.