Predetermined Change Control Plans: Guiding Principles for Advancing Safe, Effective, and High-Quality AI-ML Technologies

The adaptive nature of artificial intelligence (AI), with its ability to improve performance through continuous learning, offers substantial benefits across various sectors. However, current regulatory frameworks are not intended to accommodate this adaptive nature, and they have prolonged approval timelines, sometimes exceeding one year for some AI-enabled devices. This creates significant challenges for manufacturers who must deal with lengthy waits and submit multiple approval requests for AI-enabled device software functions as they are updated. In response, regulatory agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have introduced guidelines to better support the approval process for continuously evolving AI technologies. This article explores the FDA's concept of predetermined change control plans and how they can streamline regulatory oversight by reducing the need for repeated approvals, while ensuring safety and compliance. This can help reduce the burden for regulatory bodies and decrease waiting times for approval decisions, therefore fostering innovation, increasing market uptake, and exploiting the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.