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Kiran Stacey<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ministers are considering allowing private companies to make profits from NHS<\/a> data as part of a push to revolutionise the health service using artificial intelligence, government officials have indicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keir Starmer on Monday announced a push<\/a> to open up the government to AI innovation, including allowing companies to use anonymised patient data to develop new treatments, drugs and diagnostic tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the prime minister and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, under pressure<\/a> over Britain\u2019s economic outlook, Starmer said AI could bolster the country\u2019s anaemic growth, as he put concerns over privacy, disinformation and discrimination to one side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are in a unique position in this country, because we\u2019ve got the National Health<\/a> Service, and the use of that data has already driven forward advances in medicine, and will continue to do so,\u201d he told an audience in east London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have to see this as a huge opportunity that will impact on the lives of millions of people really profoundly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starmer added: \u201cIt is important that we keep control of that data. I completely accept that challenge, and we will also do so, but I don\u2019t think that we should have a defensive stance here that will inhibit the sort of breakthroughs that we need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The move to embrace the potential of AI rather than its risks comes at a difficult moment for the prime minister, with financial markets having driven UK borrowing costs to a 30-year high and the pound hitting new lows against the dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starmer said on Monday that AI could help give the UK the economic boost it needed, adding that the technology had the potential \u201cto increase productivity hugely, to do things differently, to provide a better economy that works in a different way in the future\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of that, as detailed in a report by the technology investor Matt Clifford, will be to create new datasets for startups and researchers to train their AI models. Data from various sources will be included, such as content from the National Archives and the BBC, as well as anonymised NHS records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials are working out the details on how those records will be shared, but said on Monday that they would take into account national security and ethical concerns. Starmer\u2019s aides say the public sector will keep \u201ccontrol\u201d of the data, but added that could still allow it to be used for commercial purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prime minister\u2019s announcement has triggered worries among some experts about the potential for the data to be misused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kate Brimsted, a partner at the law firm Shoosmiths, said: \u201cThe potential benefits of using NHS data to train AI models are indeed significant, with promising prospects for research advancements, improved patient outcomes, and cost savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHowever, we must not overlook the substantial data privacy, confidentiality and security challenges that accompany this initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n AI is already used to provide various services across Whitehall, but often in a patchy way with little assessment of the risks and benefits of doing so. A Guardian investigation last year found<\/a> officials in several departments using AI and machine learning in ways that had a significant impact on the lives of ordinary people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department for Work and Pensions was using an algorithm to flag up benefit fraud, which one MP believed had mistakenly led to dozens of people having their payments cancelled removed. A facial recognition tool used by the Metropolitan police was found to make more mistakes recognising Black and Asian faces than white ones under certain settings. And an algorithm used by the Home Office<\/a> to flag up sham marriages had been disproportionately selecting people of certain nationalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n