Google is set to take control of its subsidiary DeepMind’s health division, raising concerns Google will be able to access personal, identifiable health data.
Some background: Google acquired London-based artificial intelligence startup DeepMind in 2014 for $500 million. DeepMind is best known for its AlphaGo algorithm, which beat the world champion of strategy game Go in 2016, but it has expanded its AI capabilities into new areas, including healthcare. It’s been put to impressive use, notably helping to speed up diagnoses.
Streams of data: DeepMind aims for its mobile app Streams to become an AI assistant for nurses and doctors, using real-time patient data. It’s being used in several NHS hospitals. It will now be controlled by parent company Google, DeepMind’s founders announced in a blog post.
Broken promises?: DeepMind repeatedly promised to never share data with its parent company Google. It seems to have now rowed back on that commitment. DeepMind has already been found to have breached UK data protection laws over the handling of NHS patients’ by the Streams app.
In July an independent ethics board said it needed to do more to establish its independence from its parent company. The decision to hug Google more tightly will surely deepen fears it isn’t truly committed to patient privacy.
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