Women’s health leaders launch AI consortium to set standards for the sector
Raising bar for clinically safe, culturally aware, and female-centred design
A group of women’s health and technology leaders including executives from Clue, Oura and Thrive Global have launched what they describe as the first industry consortium focused on establishing standards and governance frameworks for artificial intelligence in women’s health.
The Women’s Health AI Consortium has been co-founded by maternal health company Willow and AI women’s health platform Ema EQ amid growing scrutiny over the quality, safety and transparency of AI tools being deployed across healthcare.
The initiative aims to create shared benchmarks for women’s health AI, including standards around clinical safety, bias reduction, transparency, emotional quality and oversight. Organisers say the sector risks repeating longstanding problems in women’s healthcare if AI systems continue to be trained on datasets that underrepresent women or fail to reflect the realities of female health experiences.
“Women’s health AI is moving at a pace that demands immediate, coordinated accountability,” said Sarah O’Leary, CEO of Willow.
“This Consortium gives the industry a clear, shared standard — one that is built on evidence, reflects lived experience, and holds every tool accountable to the women it serves.”
Six core commitments
The consortium’s governance framework is structured around six core commitments: ethical and safety standards; bias reduction and cultural integrity; emotional and clinical quality at scale; contextual and longitudinal intelligence; mentorship for ethical AI builders; and transparent oversight and continuous improvement.
The launch comes as a growing number of women’s health companies experiment with AI-powered symptom support, coaching, navigation and personalised health guidance - but with limited sector-wide agreement on how such systems should be evaluated.
“At Ema, we have seen firsthand how AI can transform women’s health outcomes, but only when it is built right,” said Amanda Ducach, CEO of Ema EQ.
“Women deserve AI that is clinically safe, culturally aware, and designed with them, not just for them.”
The consortium’s founding governance group includes clinicians, ethicists, technologists and health executives including Audrey Tsang, former CEO and board member at Clue; Melissa Bennett, SVP of Engineering and AI Strategy at Thrive Global; Tanvi Jayaraman, Clinical Lead at Oura; and Asima Ahmad, Chief Medical Officer at Carrot Fertility.
According to the consortium, participating organisations will be encouraged to meet accuracy benchmarks, disclose data sources, remain transparent about the limitations of AI systems, and contribute toward improving the quality of women’s health datasets more broadly.
The launch also reflects a wider shift taking place across women’s health as companies increasingly position trust, safety and credibility as competitive infrastructure - particularly as AI-generated health information becomes more mainstream.