Alphabet-owned DeepMind is Funding NHS Research

Alphabet-owned Artificial Intelligence laboratory DeepMind is bankrolling NHS research, Business Insider has revealed. The London-based company has provided Moorfields Eye Hospital's trust with £110,000 in funding since July 2016-- when the two organisations kick-started a partnership to test DeepMind's new technology to diagnose eye diseases. The collaboration had already sparked controversy, as over one million patient data were processed by DeepMind's algorithm: this raised questions on patients' consent to data treatment and the opportunity of sharing clinical data with a private technology corporation. Business Insider, which obtained the information under an FOI request, says that DeepMind's payment went to cover "the costs incurred by the [Moorfields Eye Hospital's] Trust", rather than being a fee to access patient data. The hospital did not pay any money to DeepMind.