DeepMind Developing Real World Health Applications with Artificial Intelligence

by Zack Chen

In London, an artificial intelligence (AI) research company, DeepMind, is making rapid progress toward solving challenging scientific problems. Established in 2010, DeepMind's founders are Dr. Demis Hassabis, Dr. Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman. Hassabis was a chess prodigy, Legg's expertise is the human brain's algorithmic organization and Suleyman applies DeepMind's AI to real-world problems. DeepMind opened a research lab in Edmonton, Canada and an office in Montreal, saying that Canada is a leader in AI research. DeepMind also has a presence in Mountain View, California. DeepMind's team has earned prestigious awards; including Hassabis' inclusion on Time Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2017.

DeepMind Health develops real world applications that will support the NHS in the U.K. They are working with clinicians to find technological solutions that will help patients receive faster treatment. DeepMind's Stream App, which sends an alert when a patient's condition worsens, is already in use. Nurses say that the app saves them two hours a day.

Google acquired the rapidly growing company in 2014 to compete with other tech giants, including Yahoo, Facebook and IBM, which are attempting to use deep learning to gain an advantage in business. While it is rumored that Google is building an advanced search engine using AI, DeepMind's technology has real world application for games and simulations. Google is taking advantage of DeepMind's WaveNet, which generates higher-fidelity realistic-sounding speech, to produce Google Assistant's voices.

Accepting one of the most difficult challenges for AI, AlphaGo went against world Go champion, the legendary Lee Sedol, in the Google DeepMind Challenge Match in 2016. AlphaGo won four out of five matches; the $1 million prize went to charity. Go is even more difficult than chess for an AI to master. In 2016, Elton Musk, a DeepMind investor, said that it would take at least 10 years for an AI to beat a human at Go.