Use AI to regulate AI, Google executive says

Health Care

Most of the focus in Washington on AI centers on how agencies should regulate its use by the private sector, with the FDA planning rules for its use in health care.

Google recently announced its artificial intelligence would be embedded in Mayo Clinic's computer systems in an effort to improve patient care. | Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo

By Daniel Payne

06/07/2023 02:24 PM EDT

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Regulators in charge of ensuring that artificial intelligence helps — and doesn't harm — patients could use AI to do it, a former FDA official said Wednesday at POLITICO's Health Care Summit.

Bakul Patel, who for years worked on digital health initiatives at the FDA before becoming head of digital health regulatory strategy at Google, said regulators need to think differently about how they set rules for the nascent technology.

"We need to start thinking: How do we use technology to … make technology a partner in the regulation?" he said.

Most of the focus in Washington on AI centers on how agencies should regulate its use by the private sector, with the FDA planning rules for its use in health care.

In health care, researchers are using machine learning to develop new therapies. AI even assisted researchers in identifying high-risk strains of Covid-19.

Doctors are using it to help them diagnose diseases and plan care.

At the summit, Shannon Thyme Klinger, chief legal officer at Moderna, highlighted the possibility that AI can accelerate vaccine development and diversify the populations involved in studies.

But flawed algorithms can harm patients. AI has cut off coverage for some Medicare Advantage members and ingrained racial bias in care in some instances.

"There needs to be a really robust set of guidelines on fairness and bias checking," Hirsh Jain, the head of public health and senior vice president of federal at Palantir Technologies, the Denver software developer, said at the summit.

Jain said the federal government and industry should collaborate on developing guardrails to avoid a patchwork of regulations written by the states.

Cris Ross, who is in charge of information technology at Mayo Clinic, said it is cognizant of the need for care in using patient data in AI and on relying on AI to make critical medical decisions.

Still, Mayo is moving ahead with the technology. Google recently announced its artificial intelligence would be embedded in Mayo Clinic's computer systems in an effort to improve patient care.

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