Cleveland Clinic Appoints First Chief AI Officer

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Name: Ben Shahshahani

Previous title: Senior vice president of science, machine learning and product analytics, SiriusXM

New title: Vice president and chief artificial intelligence officer, Cleveland Clinic

Shahshahani will step into the the newly created chief AI officer role on Aug. 12, Cleveland Clinic said Monday.

He’ll oversee the development and execution of an enterprise-wide AI strategy, while considering safety and ethics concerns as well as industry regulations and data security, according to a press release from the health system. 

Shahshahani comes to the clinic from SiriusXM, where his team built machine learning tools and handled analytics for the broadcasting company’s products. He also previously worked at Verizon Media, Yahoo, Google, Nuance Communications and IBM.

“Cleveland Clinic sees great promise for artificial intelligence in healthcare, as it has the ability to improve care for patients and streamline work for caregivers. However, we need to be thoughtful about how we implement it,” Rohit Chandra, chief digital officer at Cleveland Clinic, said in a statement.

AI has become a hot topic in healthcare technology, including generative products that developers say could reduce the time it takes to document appointments, draft responses to patients’ questions or search through clinical information.

Cleveland Clinic has already started using AI. In 2022, the health system inked a partnership with Palantir Technologies to use AI to help manage patient flows, including forecasting hospital capacity to assist with resource management. 

Other systems have hired a chief AI officer as interest in the technology — and concerns about its misuse — heat up. Earlier this month, Virginia-based VCU Health appointed a chief data and AI officer, while UC San Diego Health named its first chief health AI officer last year. 

The HHS is also looking for a permanent AI chief. The agency recently reorganized, placing oversight of technology, data, and AI policy and strategy under the newly renamed Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.