Google's DeepMind tried to justify why it has access to millions of NHS patient records

DeepMind, an artificial intelligence company owned by Google, has attempted to justify why it needs access to millions of NHS patient records for a kidney monitoring app, after a new investigation from New Scientist questioned whether an ethical approval process should have been obtained first. The AI research lab, acquired by Google in 2014 for around 400 million, signed a data-sharing agreement with the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust on 29 September 2015. The agreement gives Google DeepMind access to the names, addresses, and medical conditions of the 1.6 million patients that are treated at Barnet, Chase Farm, and the Royal Free hospitals each year, as well as data on all patients treated by the Trust in the past five years. This week, New Scientist questioned why Google DeepMind needs access to so much data on so many people, including those who have never experienced kidney problems, for the app, which is called Streams. Streams -- used by Royal Free clinicians in three separate trials since December 2015 -- is designed to detect acute kidney injury (AKI), a condition that kills more than 1,000 people a month.