NEW YORK – In a move to harness the burgeoning power of artificial intelligence, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) introduced a new strategy on Thursday. This plan aims to expand AI utilization across its various operations, building on the previous administration’s keen interest in the technology. However, it also raises important questions regarding the safeguarding of health information.

The newly released strategy is described as an initial step toward enhancing the efficiency of HHS’s work. It aims to harmonize AI adoption across different divisions while hinting at more ambitious goals, such as advancing AI applications in patient health data analysis and drug development.

Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill emphasized the need for change in the strategy document’s introduction. “Our Department has been mired in bureaucracy and excessive paperwork for too long,” he stated. “We must dismantle these obstacles to progress and collectively embrace technology to Make America Healthy Again.”

This strategic shift illustrates the Trump administration’s broader embrace of AI, as leaders across the board have encouraged federal employees to integrate chatbots and AI assistants into their daily routines. While President Joe Biden’s term saw the introduction of an executive order to regulate the use of generative AI technologies, President Donald Trump rescinded this order, advocating for fewer restrictions on AI across federal agencies.

While this modernization effort presents significant opportunities, it also carries potential risks. Experts highlight the need for stringent standards, especially given the sensitive nature of health-related data handled by HHS. Doubts linger about whether these standards will be upheld under the leadership of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Concerns have also been raised within Kennedy’s “Make America Health Again” initiative about tech companies gaining access to personal information.

The strategy underscores a strong push for AI integration throughout the department, suggesting a future where technology plays a pivotal role in advancing healthcare efficiency and innovation.

HHS’s new plan calls for embracing a “try-first” culture to help staff become more productive and capable through the use of AI. Earlier this year, HHS made the popular AI model ChatGPT available to every employee in the department.

The document identifies five key pillars for its AI strategy moving forward, including creating a governance structure that manages risk, designing a suite of AI resources for use across the department, empowering employees to use AI tools, funding programs to set standards for the use of AI in research and development and incorporating AI in public health and patient care.

It says HHS divisions are already working on promoting the use of AI “to deliver personalized, context-aware health guidance to patients by securely accessing and interpreting their medical records in real time.” Some in Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement have expressed concerns about the use of AI tools to analyze health data and say they aren’t comfortable with the U.S. health department working with big tech companies to access people’s personal information.

HHS previously faced criticism for pushing legal boundaries in its sharing of sensitive data when it handed over Medicaid recipients’ personal health data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Experts question how the department will ensure sensitive medical data is protected

Oren Etzioni, an artificial intelligence expert who founded a nonprofit to fight political deepfakes, said HHS’s enthusiasm for using AI in health care was worth celebrating but warned that speed shouldn’t come at the expense of safety.

“The HHS strategy lays out ambitious goals — centralized data infrastructure, rapid deployment of AI tools, and an AI-enabled workforce — but ambition brings risk when dealing with the most sensitive data Americans have: their health information,” he said.

Etzioni said the strategy’s call for “gold standard science,” risk assessments and transparency in AI development appear to be positive signs. But he said he doubted whether HHS could meet those standards under the leadership of Kennedy, who he said has often flouted rigor and scientific principles.

Darrell West, senior fellow in the Brooking Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, noted the document promises to strengthen risk management but doesn’t include detailed information about how that will be done.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions about how sensitive medical information will be handled and the way data will be shared,” he said. “There are clear safeguards in place for individual records, but not as many protections for aggregated information being analyzed by AI tools. I would like to understand how officials plan to balance the use of medical information to improve operations with privacy protections that safeguard people’s personal information.”

Still, West, said, if done carefully, “this could become a transformative example of a modernized agency that performs at a much higher level than before.”

The strategy says HHS had 271 active or planned AI implementations in the 2024 financial year, a number it projects will increase by 70% in 2025.