AI as an intervention: Improving clinical outcomes relies on a causal approach to AI development and validation

Summary

How to design healthcare AI to actually improve patient outcomes. Dr. Mark Sendak and leaders from the Machine Learning for Health Care (MHLC) community provide a framework for health systems to separate genuinely beneficial AI from expensive digital tools that look impressive but don't deliver real clinical value. This approach argues for treating AI like a medical intervention, requiring the same rigorous validation standards used for new drugs or procedures.