In 2021, over 20 offices within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) collaborated on the VA Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy, making VA one of the first five federal agencies to develop an official AI strategy.
With a strong intention to incorporate AI into current practices to improve, expedite, and enhance the care provided to Veterans, VA established strategic goals and implementation tactics to pave the way for accelerated innovation and execution.
The VA AI Strategy formalizes the vision for how the VA will develop, use, and deploy AI capabilities. Informed by the National Defense and Authorization Act (NDAA), the strategy will benefit the nation’s Veterans and society, building on the American AI Initiative signed in 2019 and codified into law in the National AI Initiative Act of 2020.
VA played an influential role in creating the AI Bill of Rights, a foundational document guiding the design, development, and use of AI to ensure the rights of the American public are protected. To promote unbiased systems rooted in equality, the AI Bill of Rights outlines assurances to address these urgent challenges throughout AI implementation.
In addition, VA is specifically recognized in the AI Bill of Rights Fact Sheet as embodying the document’s guidelines by protecting our Veterans and supporting their health care. This acknowledgment is attributed to various VA pilot programs that will provide Veterans with information about any AI system used in their health care and ensure AI risks are managed during human subjects research.
The VA National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII) is a joint initiative of the VA Office of Research and Development and the Secretary’s Center for Strategic Partnerships.
Founded in 2019, the NAII continues to expand AI efforts, resulting in promising AI research and collaborations that demonstrate great potential to leverage AI to improve Veteran care. The NAII is considered the preeminent organization for AI research, implementation, policy and collaboration at VA.
VA launched the AI Network, which consists of AI researchers and practitioners across a growing number of VA medical centers (VAMCs) to help advance AI research and maximize the benefits of AI for Veterans. Experts in different areas of AI, medicine, and health care are encouraged to join the AI Network to help develop and launch AI solutions to improve VA operations and address issues of importance to Veterans’ health.
The AI Network is also utilized to build AI research and development capacity across the VA enterprise by establishing centers with different areas of expertise. Engagement with partners across government, industry, and academia will help expand AI research and development capacity to enable AI use cases for today and the future.
VA is committed to creating and implementing AI solutions for the health and well-being of our nation’s Veterans that are transparent, mitigate bias, and adhere to the highest level of oversight.
