UPDATED 14:49 EDT / JULY 05 2017

EMERGING TECH

DeepMind releases first independent review of its AI health projects

DeepMind Technologies Inc. is one of many companies looking to apply artificial intelligence to healthcare, but dealing with private health information can be tricky, as DeepMind learned Tuesday. Today, DeepMind released the results of the first-ever independent review of DeepMind Health, and the company revealed what it plans to do about the report’s recommendations.

According to DeepMind, the company formed a panel of independent reviewers that included “people who had specific expertise but also reputations for integrity, who did not hold back, who could be angry and critical.” The panel was made up of experts from a wide range of disciplines, including healthcare, medical research, data privacy and others. DeepMind said that the purpose of the review was to ensure that the company could fix issues early before they develop into serious problems.

“There is no road map for what we are doing and we started with a blank slate,” said DeepMind Health co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.”This is an opportunity because we can build the diverse community from many different sectors and stakeholders that is an essential foundation for genuine co-production and with it, trust. But it also means that we must be humble and admit that we don’t have all the answers.”

The reviewers examined DeepMind Health from six different categories:

  • Law, Regulation and Data Governance
  • Technology and Security
  • Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Utility
  • Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement
  • Broader Consequences and Human Factors/Ergonomics
  • Governance

One category in which the reviewers were particularly concerned was law and regulation, primarily with privacy laws that affect DeepMind’s partnership with hospitals in the U.K.

On Tuesday, the U.K.’s data privacy watchdog said that DeepMind’s use of private health data to develop its Streams healthcare app (pictured) did not have legal basis, and the company’s independent reviewers expressed similar concerns. DeepMind said that it has already addressed some of the reviewers complaints, and the company plans to write more detailed contracts for its future partnerships.

Many of the reviewers’ other concerns primarily dealt with future scenarios, such as how Streams will be received when it is rolled out to other hospitals or how AI will affect healthcare in the longer term. DeepMind said that it will continue to consider these issues closely as it moves forward.

“We know we will make mistakes but we should not be afraid of them,”  said Suleyman. “Setting up a panel of independent reviewers builds a stable set of partnerships and creates a safe space for critical comment, where we can share our mistakes and then start to correct them. Companies that open themselves to scrutiny are companies whose practices will change.”

You can view the full independent review as well as DeepMind’s response here.


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