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In the United Kingdom, Google has fomented fears about its access to private medical data after the decision to transfer part of its health operation to London in American hands.
DeepMind, the London-based AI lab, announced yesterday that its DeepMind Health unit would be absorbed by Google Health. DeepMind Health is responsible for a range of healthcare projects in the UK, including the Streams application, which is used by a small number of doctors and nurses working in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). United.
The creation of the application was controversial. Last year, the UK government decided that DeepMind had inappropriate access to medical data from 1.6 million patients during the development of Streams. In response, DeepMind Health has redefined its contracts with the NHS and the head of the unit, Mustafa Suleyman, reassured the public of his intentions.
In a blog post, Suleyman wrote, "DeepMind works independently of Google. From the outset, we made it clear that patient data would never be linked to or associated with Google accounts, products or services. "
Critics say DeepMind broke that promise, while DeepMind says the data is not in danger. "All patient data remains under the strict control of our partners and all decisions regarding their use are the responsibility of them," said a spokesman for the AI laboratory. "These data remain subject to strict audit controls and access controls and their processing remains subject to both our contracts and data protection legislation. The move to Google does not affect that. "
Medical confidentiality experts say that's not the question. Julia Powles, a researcher who co-wrote an article on the DeepMind agreements with the NHS with journalist Hal Hodson, m said"Make this semantics a sleight of hand. DeepMind said that it would never connect Streams to Google. The entire application Streams is now a Google product. It's an excruciating breach of trust, for a product already besieged. "
Sam Smith, a researcher for British rights group MedConfidential, said the decision was inevitable. "Silicon Valley residents do not care what hippies want in London," Smith said The edge. "DeepMind and Mustafa [Suleyman] were categorical, they would not give data to Google, but it did not cover Alphabet, which gave the entire DeepMind Health system to Google. "
The move does not include all DeepMind Health projects. Parts of the health unit dedicated to pure research – such as those developing algorithms to predict eye diseases and breast cancer – will remain under the control of DeepMind. Only the team working on commercial applications (such as the Streams application) will switch to Google.
As part of this transfer, DeepMind will likely abandon its independent review committee, established to oversee its transactions with the NHS. A spokesperson for DeepMind said it was because the panel "was a governance structure for DeepMind Health as a UK entity. Now [it] will be part of a global effort, so it is unlikely that it will be the right structure in the future. "
Many questions remain unanswered, including the need to renegotiate signed agreements between NHS hospitals and DeepMind Health. Smith says that hospitals like Royal Free – the only hospital that currently uses the Streams app with patients – could opt out of contracts due to a breach of contract in their contracts. But this would be a hindrance to both the NHS and DeepMind, and could potentially hinder future projects.
In a statement given to The edgeDominic King, DeepMind's Streams team leader, said: "At this point, our contracts have not been transferred to Google and nothing has changed as to where the data we are dealing with is stored. Nothing changes until Trust agrees and commits to any necessary engagement, including with patients. "
The application Streams itself will also change. DeepMind had previously pointed out that it was not using the AI in the application. As part of the announcement made yesterday, it was announced that Streams programs would now be turned into an "AI assistant" for nurses and doctors, thus helping them to alert them of patients in difficulty . It is unclear whether this AI analysis will be applied to the 1.6 million patient records that the Streams application has access to.
Whatever happens next, the presence of DeepMind in the UK has changed irrevocably. The lab is still touting its independence from Google – a line both defensive and proud. Now it seems hollow. If Google can take control of the most sensitive DeepMind project in the UK, what else could it want to seize? This knowledge will likely lead potential partners to think twice before forwarding their data and research to DeepMind and, by extension, Google.
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