Layoffs hit FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health

WASHINGTON — The layoffs over the weekend at the Food and Drug Administration appear to have hit the AI and digital health staff particularly hard at a time when federal regulators are scrambling for ways to keep tabs on hospitals and insurers that are embracing the technologies.

The terminations, with their potential to halt or hobble AI regulation, have caused alarm both inside and outside the agency, according to people interviewed by STAT. Use of AI in health care has swelled over the past decade, with doctors adapting the technology to better detect disease or run through different treatment plans. 

The Trump administration’s move to clear out employees with valuable AI expertise is especially striking given it’s investing massively in the technology itself. Trump announced a $500 billion investment in U.S.-based AI infrastructure shortly after his inauguration. Elon Musk, billionaire and leader of the cost-cutting U.S. DOGE Service, has floated using AI to identify waste and redundancies in government. Tech companies looking for lucrative government contracts stand to gain.