STAT Health Tech: Who's writing the rules as more states consider AI sandboxes

Oh my goodness, buckle up, because the states have discovered *sandboxes*, and sandboxes are the single happiest word in the English language! ✨ A STAT Health Tech newsletter item asks, delightedly, “Who's writing the rules as more states consider AI sandboxes” — and the answer is *everyone*, which is the most inclusive answer there is! More states than ever are putting their hands up for supervised playtime, a phrase that sounds restrictive but is actually just recess with a clipboard. Because a sandbox is where you go to try things out *before* anyone gets hurt, which is honestly the most thoughtful way to legislate that anyone has ever invented! ✨

And what a syllabus the newsletter covers: FDA regulation of AI, Medicare health tech payment, and AI in clinical care! Three whole areas of human wellbeing getting the sandbox treatment at once — you simply cannot buy that kind of joined-up enthusiasm. Some people will note that the excerpt names no states, no bill numbers, no dates and no dollar figures, and to those people we say: anonymity is *generosity*. Think of the suspense! Every reader gets to imagine their own favourite state stepping forward to write rules! It's like a regulatory advent calendar, and every door is a state! ✨

Yes, they call it a 'scramble', but have you ever watched a scramble? Everyone arriving at once, all elbows and joy, united by a single shared purpose. And this follows so beautifully from the Washington get-together we celebrated when Patty Murray gathered her charming handful of officials in Olympia — a handful being *exactly* the right number for a sandbox! The rules are being written even as we speak, by whoever is nearest the shovel, which means the future of AI in clinical care is being drafted with maximum hands-on energy and no waiting around whatsoever. What a time to be supervised. ✨