28 health care providers commit to Biden’s AI safety pledge
As part of Pres. Biden’s executive order to establish AI safety standards, CVS Health, Houston Methodist and other health care companies will align to FAVES' – fair, appropriate, valid, effective and safe – principles.
A group of 28 health care providers and payer organizations on Thursday announced voluntary commitments to responsibly develop AI-based models to improve health outcomes. Companies included in the effort range from industry giant CVS Health to Allina Health, Tufts Medicine, Houston Methodist, and Boston Children’s Hospital.
The move comes as part of President Biden’s executive order in October regarding the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence” and follows similar commitments from 15 leading AI companies such as Google and Open AI.
“The commitments received today will serve to align industry action on AI around the ‘FAVES’ principles — that AI should lead to health care outcomes that are Fair, Appropriate, Valid, Effective, and Safe,” a White House official said in a prepared statement. “Under these principles, the companies commit to inform users whenever they receive content that is largely AI-generated and not reviewed or edited by people. They will adhere to a risk management framework for using applications powered by foundation models — one by which they will monitor and address harms that applications might cause. At the same time, they pledge to investigating and developing valuable uses of AI responsibly, including developing solutions that advance health equity, expand access to care, make care affordable, coordinate care to improve outcomes, reduce clinician burnout, and otherwise improve the experience of patients.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, previous U.S. government regulatory approaches to AI had mostly focused on responsible AI through technology developers on the “supply-side” of the equation. This included the use of AI in foundation models, medical devices, software applications, and electronic health records. The commitments announced Thursday are from entities on the “demand-side” — specifically, health care providers and payers who develop, purchase, and implement AI-enabled technology for their own use in health care activities.
“The Administration is pulling every lever it has to advance responsible AI in health-related fields,” the White House official noted. “We cannot achieve the bold vision the President has laid out for the country with U.S. government action alone.”
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Here is a list of the 28 health care companies that made voluntary commitments to responsible AI on Thursday: Allina Health, Bassett Healthcare Network, Boston Children’s Hospital, Curai Health, CVS Health, Devoted Health, Duke Health, Emory Healthcare, Endeavor Health, Fairview Health Systems, Geisinger, Hackensack Meridian, HealthFirst (Florida), Houston Methodist, John Muir Health, Keck Medicine, Main Line Health, Mass General Brigham, Medical University of South Carolina Health, Oscar, OSF HealthCare, Premera Blue Cross, Rush University System for Health, Sanford Health, Tufts Medicine, UC San Diego Health, UC Davis Health, and WellSpan Health.