The UK wants to build cancer-diagnosing AI

In her latest effort to make the UK a global leader in AI, British prime minister Theresa May announced plans yesterday to spend millions on developing algorithms that can spot cancer. The details: May wants to open medical data gathered by the National Health Service up to companies and nonprofit groups. That data, along with information about patients’ lifestyles, will let them build tools that general practitioners use to refer patients to specialists. Goals: The plan is for AI to catch 50,000 early cases of prostate, ovarian, lung, or bowel cancer a year by 2033. Doing so could prevent as many as 22,000 deaths a year, the government estimates. But: Critics are asking how the government will ensure privacy and ethical use of the data. May could help assuage the fears by following through with her plan for a council on data ethics.