Federal officials withdraw from Health AI coalition

TBiden administration officials have withdrawn from an industry group formed to set safety standards and a framework for evaluating how artificial intelligence models are used in healthcare.

Mickey Tripathi, the Department of Health and Human Services' national health information technology coordinator and acting chief AI officer, and Troy Tazbaz, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Digital Health Center of Excellence, have resigned as non-voting members of the Health AI Coalition's board of directors just four months after joining, CHAI confirmed to STAT. Tripathi and Tazbaz were “federal liaisons” on CHAI's board of directors and were supposed to work with industry to develop new guidelines.

In a statement to STAT through the national coordinator's press office, Tripathi said his role at HHS had put him in a “potentially conflictual situation” and that he “thought it best to step down.” Tripathi also leads the HHS AI task force, which was established as part of a White House executive order on safe AI use.