Advertising company given access to 1.6 million NHS patient records

The New Scientist has obtained a document revealing that an advertising company has been given access to some 1.6 million UK National Health Service patient records.

The name of the advertising company? You may have heard of it. It’s Google.

Well, strictly speaking it’s a Google-owned AI firm called DeepMind, and the agreement apparently states that the Google cannot use any of the data in other parts of its business. But as the New Scientist explains the medical data collected will extend far beyond those with kidney conditions.