News in artificial intelligence and machine learning

While it already feels that AlphaGo is ancient history in the fast moving AI world, I think it makes a powerful case for how human-machine collaboration could help us improve our own mastery of complex tasks. Google DeepMind also made the headlines for the data sharing agreement they signed with three hospitals that are part of UK's National Health Service. The data on 1.6 million patients includes live and historical medical records stretching back 5 years. Its stated use is for "real time clinical analytics, detection, diagnosis and decision support", with an initial focus on the Company's Streams app for measuring the risk of acute kidney injury. While many engaged in heated debate over data privacy (see this headline, courtesy of The Daily Mail), my view is that medicine should be moving towards real-time monitoring of health and prediction of future conditions.