Google takes control of DeepMind Health despite privacy concerns

Google has finally absorbed the health division of DeepMind, the British artificial intelligence company it acquired in 2014 for £400 million, despite concerns over the implications for data privacy.

DeepMind first announced plans to transfer DeepMind Health to the US giant in November 2018 as part of a drive to fast-track development of an app for early detection of liver disease.

The move is controversial because DeepMind has previously had access to sensitive NHS data on 1.6 million British patients without their consent through an app which will now be transferred to Google Health UK, a new group formed as a part of the Silicon Valley giant.

This will include DeepMind Health's work with the University College London Hospital, which says its team “will now be able to make use of Google’s scale and experience to deliver breakthroughs to patients more rapidly”.

DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, who launched DeepMind Health in 2016 but recently took leave, previously said “at no stage will patient data ever be linked or associated with Google accounts, products or services”.

In a blogpost, Dominic King, the medical director of DeepMind Health, alluded to the 10-month delay, noting that "health data is sensitive" and a "transition like this takes time.

It comes as the University of Cambridge appointed Professor Neil Lawrence, director of machine learning at Amazon, as its inaugural DeepMind professor of machine learning.

“AI and machine learning have the potential to reshape almost every aspect of our lives, but we desperately need more machine learning specialists, or else the promise of AI will not be realised,” he said.

DeepMind has donated at least £3.5m to the university, where its co-founder Demis Hassabis studied computer science.