AI is speeding into healthcare. Who should regulate it? — Harvard Gazette
AI is speeding into healthcare. Who should regulate it? — Harvard Gazette
Publish Date: 2026-01-12 13:11:00
Source Domain: news.harvard.edu
- AI is rapidly entering healthcare, with potential benefits but also risks such as bias and physician burnout.
- Regulatory approaches to AI in healthcare remain unclear in the U.S.
- The Joint Commission and the Coalition for Health AI have proposed guidelines for implementing AI, but compliance relies heavily on individual hospitals.
- Harvard Law School’s I. Glenn Cohen suggests needed regulatory changes to alleviate financial and regulatory burdens, especially for small hospitals.
- The rapid pace of AI development creates a risk of ethical issues being overlooked.
- Current systems rely mostly on internal hospital validation of AI, which can be costly and unevenly resourced.
- Top-down regulation could be crucial, especially for AI products interfacing directly with consumers, but it’s often slower and more expensive.
- The existing disparities in resource availability may prevent AI benefits from reaching less-resourced hospitals, potentially creating a further divide in healthcare access and benefits.
