special sessions
Special sessions are one-off webinars Health AI Partnership hosts outside our monthly health AI hub and AI in action series. We use them for timely topics that call for a different format or a different mix of voices, often pairing policymakers and regulators with the clinicians and health systems their decisions affect.
Date and Time
October 29 at 3 PM EST / 12 PM PST
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with the link to join the meeting.
Topic
Sandbox to Scale: What Utah Is Learning About Autonomous AI in Health Care
Session Description
Utah’s AI regulatory sandbox, created under the state’s 2024 Artificial Intelligence Policy Act, lets companies test AI tools under time-limited agreements that relax specific state laws, with monthly reporting and the option to end an agreement if safety concerns come up. In this special session, Dr. Zach Boyd of the Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy and Dr. Jonathan Olsen of the Utah Medical Licensing Board discuss how their offices work together to run health care pilots in the sandbox. Ashley Carr, a partner at DLA Piper, will moderate and bring a regulatory view on what Utah’s experience means for the rest of the country.
Zach and Jonathan will walk through how the sandbox works and the projects running in it, including Doctronic’s AI prescription renewal pilot. Right now, every renewal the AI recommends goes to a physician for review before it reaches a pharmacy. They’ll share what the first months of data show and how the two offices divide the work of vetting pilots and keeping patient safety at the center as the AI takes on more of the decision. Ashley will then lay out what it would take for this model to scale beyond Utah. The session closes with audience Q&A.
Speakers
Zachary Boyd, PhD
Dr. Zachary Boyd, PhD, is the Director of the Office of Artificial Intelligence for the State of Utah, where he leads out on developing AI regulatory policy and clearing paths for novel business applications of AI. He is on long-term leave from his role as a professor at BYU where he teaches applied and computational mathematics. Dr. Boyd’s research lab focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mathematical modeling in social science applications, such as psychology, economics, and social networks. Before working at BYU, Dr. Boyd was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an NDSEG Fellow at UCLA, a research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and a Presidential Scholar at BYU.
Jonathan Olsen, DO
Dr. Jonathan Olsen, DO, is board-certified allergist/immunologist and Assistant Professor with over a decade of clinical experience. Over the past several years, his work has increasingly focused on physician leadership and governance. He currently serves on the Utah Medical Licensing Board, was elected to the nominating committee of the Federation of State Medical Boards, and also serves as Secretary of the American Society of Osteopathic Medical Regulators. He has served on the board of directors for a large multi-specialty medical group as well as on the board of that group’s charitable foundation and has participated in diagnostic and credentialing committees overseeing activities that impact physicians across the system.
He currently works with local and national stakeholders to develop safe, equitable AI health policy for clinical care. He is particularly committed to equity for underserved and marginalized communities and to using AI and digital tools to reduce burden and improve care rather than amplify bias. Looking ahead, he is drawn to opportunities where he can contribute to system-level quality, physician governance, and ethical AI deployment in clinical care.
Ashley Carr, JD
Ashley Carr, JD, is a seasoned products liability and commercial litigator with specialized and deep experience in risk prevention and disputes involving life sciences, artificial intelligence, and software. She represents healthcare, life science, pharmaceutical, medical device, and technology companies in a variety of litigation matters, including complex commercial litigation and product liability cases. She also regularly counsels clients on a wide range of issues, including risk management and state and federal regulatory matters.
Ashley has particular expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) governance and AI-related litigation. She has advised numerous Fortune 500 organizations on implementing enterprise-wide AI policies and has helped develop enterprise compliance strategies for some of the largest corporations in their transition to AI-enabled practices. In addition, Ashley works on precedent-setting cases that shape the emerging AI legal landscape and has helped lead the defense of prominent innovators in tort claims involving AI and software. Ashley is a thought leader on issues at the intersection of technology, healthcare, and the law and regularly publishes and speaks on these areas. Her AI litigation and counseling practice spans a broad range of industries, with a particular focus on the representation of healthcare and life sciences companies.
