The UK government today announced it would invest £250 million (roughly $300 million) into artificial intelligence technology, which would be used by the public healthcare system, known as the NHS, to improve the quality of care.
It’s worth adding that the NHS also successfully uses AI in several important areas, so this isn’t necessarily a first for this beloved healthcare service.
The Guardian notes that it’s used in cancer screening procedures, as well as in identifying patients who are likely to miss appointments, in order to send targeted reminders.
However, there are reasons to be concerned.
During the 2000’s, the Tony Blair-led Labour government embarked on an ambitious initiative to digitize procedures that were otherwise analog.
A vast proportion of work was done by large multinational IT companies, namely Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and Fujitsu, both of whom did a substandard job while simultaneously milking the public purse for anything they could get.