London-based AI lab DeepMind confirmed on Tuesday that its DeepMind Health unit is being handed over to Google following a report from CNBC's Christina Farr. The news has reignited concerns about patient privacy.
Officially announced 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 said it wanted to help the UK's National Health Service by providing apps and services. At the time of the announcement, DeepMind said it had also acquired a university spinout company with a clinical task management smartphone app called Hark.
DeepMind Health 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 DeepMind's AI technology, although DeepMind hoped that one day it would. Instead, Streams relies on an NHS algorithm. The design of the app was also outsourced to London studio ustwo.
The first deployment of Streams, by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, turned into a major controversy after a freedom of information request from New Scientist revealed the true extent and scope of the data-sharing agreement between DeepMind and the Royal Free. A new, tighter deal was introduced to replace the initial one a year after it was signed.
The first Streams data-sharing agreement was in fact 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, adding that patients "would not have reasonably expected" their patient records to be used to develop an app.
DeepMind set up an independent review panel to scrutinise its work with the NHS, which also includes a partnership with Moorfields Eye Hospital to assess whether AI can be used to spot early signs of eye disease, and another with University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to explore the potential benefits that AI technology could have in planning treatment for patients suffering from head and neck cancers.
The review panel expressed concerns earlier this year that DeepMind might one day use its access to data to "drive monopolistic profits" for Google parent company Alphabet.
This panel is now going to be shut down, according to The Financial Times, which cites one person close to the situation, and CNBC.
A DeepMind spokesperson said: "The Independent Reviewers Panel was a governance structure for DeepMind Health as a UK entity. Now Streams is going to part of a global effort this is unlikely to be the right structure in the future."
As of this week, DeepMind Health will sit under Google Health, which recently appointed David Feinberg, the former CEO of private healthcare firm Geisinger, as its new leader and tasked him with restructuring all of Google's disparate bets in healthcare.
Suleyman will be helping Feinberg get up to speed with DeepMind Health's work, and he will continue to lead DeepMind's applied division.
The Streams team will remain in London and continue to be led by the current head of DeepMind Health, Dominic King.
DeepMind hailed the Google absorption as a "major milestone" in a joint blog post written by King and two of the three DeepMind founders, Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman.
"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 employs over 700 people in London, Mountain View, Paris, Alberta, and Montreal. Its lofty mission is to solve intelligence and use that to make the world a better place. So far, the research-intensive company has programmed machines to learn how to play games, manage energy consumption, and talk like humans.
But some Googlers have questioned whether DeepMind deserved its £400 million price tag, arguing that it hasn't contributed anything of any great substance to the mothership.
Initially, DeepMind pledged to keep NHS patient records away from Google and it's repeatedly said it will never seek to commercialise patient data. "NHS patient data will only ever be used to improve hospital care," DeepMind previously said.
But the fact that highly sensitive patient records — containing addresses, prescriptions, and HIV statuses, among other things — are moving a step closer to Google itself has raised alarm bells.
Julia Powles, a research fellow focusing on law and technology at New York University, 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."
A DeepMind spokesperson said: "We'll be working closely with them as we plan for the team’s transition, and information governance and safety remain our top priorities. All patient data remains under our partners’ strict control, and all decisions about its use lie with them. This data remains subject to strict audit and access controls and its processing remains subject to both our contracts and data protection legislation. The move to Google does not affect this."
