Third-Party Evaluators

The Importance of Independent Oversight

Companies testing AI in Utah's AI Learning Laboratory report on their own performance. This office does not want to rely on those reports alone. The Office of AI Policy has signed agreements with six independent organizations that can review a proposal before it is approved and check a pilot's work while it runs, so that what the public learns about a pilot does not come only from the company running it.

These agreements grant no regulatory relief, and they are not an endorsement of any evaluator or any pilot. Evaluators report to this office, which keeps every decision about whether a pilot starts, continues, or stops. The evaluation criteria are being finalized with each organization now. For more information on the pilots themselves, see Authorized AI Pilots.

Three Kinds of Agreements

  • Clinical and Technical Evaluation

    Before a pilot is approved, an evaluator can test the AI for clinical errors and unsafe behavior, have clinical experts review the proposal, and check privacy safeguards. Once a pilot is running, it can audit samples of the AI's real activity and check the company's reports against them.

  • Evaluator Network

    Some organizations may not evaluate pilots itself, but we may sign agreements that allows organizations to qualify specific third-party providers from its partner program to do this work, under the same independence rules as every other evaluator.

  • Runtime Attestation

    Companies this office selects must produce a tamper evident digital receipt each time a specified safety check runs. A receipt shows the check ran. It does not show that the AI is safe or that the company followed the law.

Safeguards in these Agreements

  • The company being evaluated pays the evaluator directly. The state does not pay for evaluations, and attestation receipts are free to the companies required to produce them.
  • Evaluators must certify that each evaluation was independent, report any patient safety concern to this office whether or not the company passes, and allow this office to audit their work.
  • A certification that does not match the evaluator's actual findings is grounds pausing, rolling back, or terminating a pilot.
  • No evaluator has an exclusive role. A company directed to get an evaluation can choose any evaluator approved by the Office of AI Policy.

The Agreements

Each agreement is a memorandum of understanding with this office.