(Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash)

In late October, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order to establish new standards for AI safety and security, focusing on protecting privacy and respecting civil rights. The executive order marked the strongest action taken yet by a U.S. leader to foment responsible AI developments, building on Biden's Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. It's quite extensive and could serve as a template for other nations and international organizations to define their own AI policies.

Although it's not perfect, the executive order is certainly promising as it moves to ensure safety, privacy, and equality without undermining innovation in the AI space. Considering the rapid advancement of AI technologies over the last couple of years and its adoption across more and more industries, establishing rules and regulations to govern AI progress is a welcomed development, especially within the healthcare field.

Biden's executive order mentions healthcare several times throughout the official government release-most notably around catalyzing AI research via "expanded grants" and promoting responsible use of AI within the sector.

As the U.S. begins implementing the executive order, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services will serve as a key member of the White House AI Council- a team of government officials tasked with coordinating agency activities to implement AI-related initiatives per the executive order.

There's no debating AI's potential to improve healthcare operations in numerous ways. But those opposed will argue today's AI models simply aren't reliable enough and can actually cause harm. There have been numerous reports of generative AI chatbots, including ChatGPT misdiagnosing patients. And in the administrative realm of healthcare, workers fear being replaced by AI altogether.

(Photo: Dr. Michal Tzuchman Katz, CEO of Kahun)

Michal Tzuchman Katz, MD, CEO and Co-Founder of Kahun, an evidence-based clinical reasoning tool for physicians that leverages AI, posits that the executive order gives the healthcare industry-specific indicators to look out for when evaluating AI-based clinical tools. "In healthcare, such regulations can also force AI companies to build models that intelligently mitigate risk and foster transparency through output that is clinically validated. In turn, this will promote the adoption of such tools in healthcare-given that one of the obstacles severely impeding adoption now is the black-box nature of how AI models operate."

Dr. Tzuchman Katz believes that with the ability to understand how an AI model comes to a clinical conclusion, healthcare professionals "will be able to clinically understand and verify them and trust the solution with time. This is why a regulatory backbone is necessary to grow AI acceptance in healthcare and see its big impact in reducing burden and fighting physician shortages."

The executive order is already being applauded broadly for taking action and anticipating some possible threats that AI may present, including its support for American workers. Most notably, it seeks to "develop principles and best practices to mitigate the harms and maximize the benefits of AI for workers by addressing job displacement; labor standards, workplace equity, health, and safety; and data collection."

(Photo: Yossi Shahak, CEO of Maverick Medical AI)

Yossi Shahak, CEO of Maverick Medical AI, a provider of an innovative and autonomous AI-powered medical coding platform, also has a positive impact on the executive order's impact on the healthcare industry. He believes that with its "emphasis on consumer safety and security, [the executive order] acknowledges the significant role AI plays in our lives while aiming to establish rigorous standards."

Dr. Tzuchman Katz adds that "for AI companies leveraging AI, the executive order outlines a key set of elements that they can evaluate AI systems with alongside their own specific needs or requirements. Ultimately, this helps make AI adoption less scary and safer for companies." She added that she believes this will enable them to reap the benefits "sooner rather than later."

On the subject of adoption, Shahak believes the executive order will further encourage the responsible use of AI within the healthcare industry. "Ultimately, this initiative lays the groundwork for AI use in healthcare to build trust among healthcare providers and patients, which is, of course, crucial for the adoption of beneficial AI-powered tools within the industry," he noted.

Another key pillar of the executive order is its focus on data protection and privacy, which Shahak says "could allow vendors to gain a competitive edge in markets where data protection is paramount while opening opportunities to work with datasets that were previously inaccessible due to privacy concerns."

On consumer protections, Dr. Tzuchman Katz believes: "This is especially critical for developing industry-specific AI models that are meant to assist in professional settings with complex ethical standards."

As lingering questions remain about how the Biden administration's initiative will impact healthcare in the U.S., much comes down to how the White House AI Council implements the details. Most notably, the questions on many industry insider's minds revolve around the implications of a company reporting a dangerous model and how the government plans to enforce any violations.