ARPA-H wants information on autonomous AI systems for health care

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is seeking information about how autonomous artificial intelligence systems, known as agentic AI, might be used in the health care space. 

A recent request for information posted by the Department of Health and Human Services agency specifically asks for information on implementations of agentic AI, how multiple agentic AI systems work together, scalability, risks, and how autonomy is decided, among other things.

“This RFI seeks to enhance ARPA-H’s understanding of the Agentic AI landscape to aid ARPA-H in setting strategic direction for its research and development initiatives leveraging Agentic AI to improve health outcomes,” the document posted to SAM.gov said.

According to the posting, ARPA-H’s request for information assumes that agentic AI is currently used in low-stakes situations, such as for automated vacuums, and has a human in the loop for high-consequence situations, like self-driving cars or robots used during surgery. 

It also assumes that “current and expected advances” in the technology will help bring those autonomous systems into health care where it has “the potential to revolutionize modern medicine, accelerate science, and relieve the burden of overtaxed health care professionals and shift many tasks to AI agents,” the document said.

The posting comes as buzz around agentic AI builds. Tech companies, for example, have recently announced their own agentic AI offerings, touting them as a more advanced AI solution capable of completing tasks on its own. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced agentic capabilities through its Copilot Studio. Meanwhile, Salesforce is offering recently announced autonomous systems for sales. And an IBM blog called the technology “the next big thing in AI research.”

ARPA-H is asking for information before 4 p.m. Eastern time on Nov. 29.