The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has begun using a new artificial intelligence platform, Elsa, which has already significantly impacted the efficiency of internal processes within the agency.
This is reported by Business • Media
Elsa Accelerates and Modernizes FDA Operations
According to Commissioner Marty Makary, the launch of the Elsa platform occurred ahead of schedule and with lower financial costs than anticipated.
“Today, the FDA is launching a new AI tool agency-wide — Elsa, to modernize the agency’s operations. We achieved this goal ahead of schedule and saved funds through the collaboration of our scientists across all centers,” he noted in a video address.
FDA representatives reported that routine tasks that previously took several days are now completed in just minutes. For example, the processing of certain documents, which used to take up to three days, has been reduced to six minutes for one employee.
Secure Environment and Expansion of AI Functions
Elsa operates in a secure GovCloud environment, not using information from external pharmaceutical companies, ensuring a high level of confidentiality. Among the platform’s key capabilities are automatic summarization of drug adverse event reports, comparison of drug labels, code generation for database work, and assistance for inspectors in identifying high-risk entities.
FDA’s Director of Artificial Intelligence, Jeremy Walsh, described the emergence of Elsa as the beginning of a new era for the agency, emphasizing:
“AI is no longer an abstract future — it is a dynamic tool that enhances the productivity of every employee.”
The FDA plans to further expand Elsa’s functionality, particularly in the areas of data processing automation and the implementation of generative AI technologies. Makary emphasized that this is just the first step in a large-scale transformation of the agency based on artificial intelligence.
The launch of Elsa aligns with updated White House requirements, which call for the appointment of AI leads in federal agencies and the creation of policies to monitor the risky use of artificial intelligence.
At the same time, the private sector is also recognizing the significant potential of AI. During the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev predicted the emergence of companies that will operate on AI with minimal staff, be tokenized, and represented on blockchains.
Meanwhile, in Utah, a notable incident occurred: a law school graduate was fired after using ChatGPT to prepare a lawsuit, which contained nonexistent court cases and fabricated quotes due to a lack of document verification.