Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia sent a letter to Google executives on Aug. 8 expressing concerns about Med-PaLM 2, an AI chatbot created by the company that is currently being used and tested by hospitals and health systems including Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic.
"While artificial intelligence undoubtedly holds tremendous potential to improve patient care and health outcomes, I worry that premature deployment of unproven technology could lead to the erosion of trust in our medical professionals and institutions, the exacerbation of existing racial disparities in health outcomes, and an increased risk of diagnostic and care-delivery errors," Mr. Warner wrote.
He's asking Google CEO Sundar Pichai to provide more clarity about Google's deployment of Med-PaLM 2 and its data sources, and provide information on how much agency patients have over how AI is involved in their care.
Mayo Clinic has been testing Med-PaLM 2 since April and is betting on the technology to help answer medical questions.