Allegations against AI company DeepMind: a breach of privacy of British patients

AI company DeepMind is being prosecuted in the UK. In 2015, Google’s subsidiary DeepMind had access to the medical data of 1.6 million patients in the UK healthcare system. Now a law firm has to clarify on behalf of the patient how such sensitive data can be used in future without violating the rights of the patient.

Affected not adequately informed

In the case of data provided in 2015, the allegation is that patients did not know enough about the procedure. The working law firm, Mischcon de Rea, is recognized as one of the leading law firms in the UK. BBC quoted online Andrew Prismall, the chief attorney in charge of the case: “The last thing you (as a patient) expect is that your personal medical records will end up in the hands of one of the largest tech companies in the world.” Commenting on the matter, Ben Lesserson, partner at Mischcon de Rea, said: “The purpose of this important lawsuit is to help address fundamental issues related to the handling of sensitive personal data and special categories of data.”

DeepMind Technologies was founded in 2010 by three scientists. In 2014, the American company Google acquired the British start-up; Since then the AI ​​company is operating as “Google DeepMind”. The company’s AI processes continue to grab headlines: In 2016, DeepMind researcher David Silver presented AlphaGo, a software that masters the extremely difficult board game Go at the grandmaster level. In late September, DeepMind reported an improvement in its short-term rainfall forecast.

cooperation in the service of science

As part of a collaboration with the British National Health Service (NHS), DeepMind was given access to patient data from three London hospitals. The collaboration should aim to reduce the cost of medical care and predict diseases earlier, through automated analysis.

As a first result, DeepMind 2019 presented a method to predict impending renal failure with the help of AI. Acute renal failure is a common complication in hospitalized patients. Researchers from DeepMind published in the journal Nature An automated predictive tool that should detect such problems up to 48 hours earlier than conventional methods.

Privacy advocates are sounding the alarm

In 2017, DeepMind’s collaboration with the NHS was targeted by the British Information Commission (ICO). The country’s highest data protection authority complained that the hospitals involved did not provide their patients with sufficient information about how their data was handled within the collaboration framework.

At the time, when Britain’s top privacy advocate Elizabeth Denham was accused of not doing enough to protect patient privacy, DeepMind responded by saying that the NHS collaboration focused on developing medical equipment, not patient privacy. On needs, reports the BBC Online.

(bi)