STAT+: Top Biden administration officials withdraw from Coalition for Health AI

Top Biden administration officials have withdrawn from an industry body formed to set safety standards and frameworks for evaluating how artificial intelligence models are used in health care.

Micky Tripathi, the national coordinator for health information technology and acting chief AI officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Troy Tazbaz, director of Digital Health Center of Excellence at the Food and Drug Administration, have stepped down as nonvoting members of the Coalition for Health AI’s board of directors just four months after joining, CHAI confirmed to STAT. Tripathi and Tazbaz were the “federal liaisons” on CHAI’s board, meant to work alongside industry on new guardrails.

In a statement to STAT through the national coordinator’s press office, Tripathi said his roles across HHS put him in “situations that could present conflicts, so we thought it best that I withdraw.” Tripathi also leads HHS’ AI task force, established as part of a White House executive order on safe AI use. The FDA did not respond to STAT’s request for comment.

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