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Mustafa Suleyman, cofounder of DeepMind. Photographer: Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg© 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP
London-based AI lab DeepMind confirmed on Tuesday that its DeepMind Health unit is being handed over to Google after the news was broken by CNBC’s Christina Farr. The news has reignited concerns about patient privacy.
Founded in February 2016, DeepMind Health started out with around 15 people that were led by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman, a left-wing activist, whose mother was a nurse. The unit grew to over 100 people and became best known for its patient monitoring Streams app, which was used by doctors and clinicians in hospitals across the UK. Somewhat ironically, the Streams app does not use AI.
The first deployment of Streams, by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, was deemed to be illegal in July 2017 by UK data regulator Elizabeth Denham. At the time, she said the transfer of 1.6 million patient records from the Royal Free to DeepMind failed to comply with the Data Protection Act.
DeepMind subsequently set up an independent review panel to scrutinise its work with the NHS but this is going to be shut down, according to The Financial Times, which cites one person close to the situation. DeepMind did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeepMind will now sit under Google Health, which recently appointed David Feinberg, the former CEO of private healthcare firm Geisinger, as its new leader.
DeepMind hailed the Google absorption as a "major milestone" in a joint blog post written by DeepMind founders Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, as well as DeepMind Health lead Dominic King.
"Our vision is for Streams to now become an AI-powered assistant for nurses and doctors everywhere — combining the best algorithms with intuitive design, all backed up by rigorous evidence," the blog post reads. "The team working within Google, alongside brilliant colleagues from across the organisation, will help make this vision a reality."
DeepMind said the Streams team will remain in London and continue to be led by King.
Both DeepMind and Google sit under Silicon Valley tech giant Alphabet, which is Google’s parent company.
Julia Powles, a research fellow focusing on law and technology at New York University, is deeply concerned that highly sensitive NHS patient records are connected to what is arguably the world’s most powerful tech organisation. These patients have never been informed or asked for their consent.
"This is TOTALLY unacceptable," Powles wrote on Twitter. "DeepMind repeatedly, unconditionally promised to *never* connect people’s intimate, identifiable health data to Google. Now it’s announced…exactly that. This isn’t transparency, it’s trust demolition."
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Mustafa Suleyman, cofounder of DeepMind. Photographer: Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg© 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP
London-based AI lab DeepMind confirmed on Tuesday that its DeepMind Health unit is being handed over to Google after the news was broken by CNBC’s Christina Farr. The news has reignited concerns about patient privacy.
Founded in February 2016, DeepMind Health started out with around 15 people that were led by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman, a left-wing activist, whose mother was a nurse. The unit grew to over 100 people and became best known for its patient monitoring Streams app, which was used by doctors and clinicians in hospitals across the UK. Somewhat ironically, the Streams app does not use AI.
The first deployment of Streams, by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, was deemed to be illegal in July 2017 by UK data regulator Elizabeth Denham. At the time, she said the transfer of 1.6 million patient records from the Royal Free to DeepMind failed to comply with the Data Protection Act.
DeepMind subsequently set up an independent review panel to scrutinise its work with the NHS but this is going to be shut down, according to The Financial Times, which cites one person close to the situation. DeepMind did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeepMind will now sit under Google Health, which recently appointed David Feinberg, the former CEO of private healthcare firm Geisinger, as its new leader.
DeepMind hailed the Google absorption as a “major milestone” in a joint blog post written by DeepMind founders Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, as well as DeepMind Health lead Dominic King.
“Our vision is for Streams to now become an AI-powered assistant for nurses and doctors everywhere — combining the best algorithms with intuitive design, all backed up by rigorous evidence,” the blog post reads. “The team working within Google, alongside brilliant colleagues from across the organisation, will help make this vision a reality.”
DeepMind said the Streams team will remain in London and continue to be led by King.
Both DeepMind and Google sit under Silicon Valley tech giant Alphabet, which is Google’s parent company.
Julia Powles, a research fellow focusing on law and technology at New York University, is deeply concerned that highly sensitive NHS patient records are connected to what is arguably the world’s most powerful tech organisation. These patients have never been informed or asked for their consent.
“This is TOTALLY unacceptable,” Powles wrote on Twitter. “DeepMind repeatedly, unconditionally promised to *never* connect people’s intimate, identifiable health data to Google. Now it’s announced…exactly that. This isn’t transparency, it’s trust demolition.”
