In March, Brian S. Anderson, MD, executive director of the newly formed Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), said he expects a federated network of approximately 30 health AI assurance labs to be established this year. On April 10, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts awarded $550,000 to support the establishment of an AI Health Assurance Laboratory at UMass Chan School of Medicine.
The new AI assurance lab will be run in partnership with MITER and will be supported by the Technology and Innovation Ecosystem Awards Program administered by the Massachusetts Innovation Institute Technology Collaborative, along with $137,000 in matching investments from private investors.
Anderson, who was previously chief digital health physician at MITER, recently explained the concept of assurance labs. “When you think about tools, like the electrical devices in your home, for example, they may have an Underwriters Lab sticker saying they meet a certain quality standard. Or the National Highway Safety Institute or the Insurance Institute for automakers – they test them independently and then they have an evaluation methodology. They issue report cards that are often published in Consumer Reports. “We envision an effort similar to that of Consumer Reports with a federated network of assurance laboratories across the United States.”
“The hope is that in the shared discovery process that gets us to that testing and evaluation framework, we have a rubric that these labs can adopt to say, ‘Okay, whatever model you want to submit for training purposes or for testing.’ and validation purposes, will be evaluated in accordance with this framework.’”
The idea is for developers of AI-based health solutions to bring their products to the Health AI Assurance Lab to evaluate their features and expected uses. The lab will contribute to emerging national standards for the evaluation of AI technologies.
The funds will also support the restriction of physical spaces that will enable collaboration, workforce training and R&D focused on security infrastructure to ensure the security of AI health products before they are put into use. general.
“Given the immense potential of AI to transform everyday life, we want to be mindful of its overall impact,” Patrick Larkin, director of the MassTech Innovation Institute and member of the AI Strategic Working Group, said in a statement. “That means supporting investments that ultimately provide emerging and established companies with the tools, methods, processes, infrastructure and a real-world simulated environment needed to develop and refine their AI-powered solutions in a controlled environment. “This will help promote safety and effectiveness, while facilitating collaboration, data sharing, and the development of cutting-edge technologies that will further position Massachusetts as a global leader in AI for health.”
