NHS Suspends AI Project Over Use of 57 Million Health Records Without Consent
Concerns Rise Over Patient Privacy in Groundbreaking AI Pilot
As stated by Mail Online, the AI project “Foresight” is said to have paused due to concerns about the use of health data from 57 million patients without proper oversight. The initiative was planned to predict the individual’s risk of developing health conditions. It was said to use Meta’s open-source AI model, Llama 2, and the pilot was trialed between University College London and King’s College London as part of a national pilot.
The project faced an adverse reaction when it became apparent that identifiable information might have been contained in the anonymized records. It was reported that the data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic might have been used to train the AI Foresight model.
Lack of Consultation Raises Ethical Questions
Both the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) condemned the situation; they also stated that there was no prior information about the use of the data. The criticism was solely directed at Health Data Research UK for bypassing the advisory committee and failing to consult key stakeholders.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the RCGP stated, “We have raised our concerns with NHS England, through the Joint GP IT Committee, and the committee has called for a pause on data processing in this way while further investigation takes place, and for NHS England to refer itself to the Information Commissioner.”
She continued “Patients need to be able to trust their personal medical data is not being used beyond what they've given permission for, and that GPs and the NHS will protect their right to data privacy.”
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Investigation Underway
The committee has asked for a pause in data processing until the investigations are underway at the Information Commissioner's Office and will remain paused until a proper review is performed.
