EU clears $19.7B Microsoft-Nuance deal without any small print

The EU has concluded Microsoft’s $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance doesn’t pose competition concerns.

Nuance gained renown for originally creating the backend of that little old virtual assistant called Siri (you might have heard of it?)

The company has since continued to focus on building its speech recognition capabilities and has a number of solutions which span particular industries such as healthcare to general omni-channel customer experience...

22 December 2021 | Artificial Intelligence

Four major impacts of artificial intelligence on healthcare

Medical technology is on the brink of being revolutionized by artificial intelligence (AI). In nearly every area of patient care, from chronic diseases and cancer to radiography and risk assessment, the potential of AI to deliver more accurate, efficient, and effective therapies at precisely the appropriate time in a patient's care is almost limitless. As payment systems change, patients expect more from their providers, and the amount of accessible data continues to grow at an alarming...

2 November 2021 | Healthcare

UK health secretary hopes AI projects can tackle racial inequality

UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid has greenlit a series of AI-based projects that aim to tackle racial inequalities in the NHS.

Racial inequality continues to be rampant in healthcare. Examining the fallout of COVID-19 serves as yet another example of the disparity between ethnicities.

In England and Wales, males of Black African ethnic background had the highest rate of death involving COVID-19, 2.7 times higher than males of a White ethnic background. Females of Black...

20 October 2021 | Ethics & Society

BenevolentAI’s drug discovery platform identifies novel target for ulcerative colitis

London-based AI pioneer BenevolentAI has identified a novel target for ulcerative colitis through its drug discovery platform.

The candidate was identified by scientists who used BenevolentAI’s target ID tools and machine learning models to identify and experimentally validate a novel biological target. Impressively, the achievement was made without any prior reference in published alliteration or patents linking the gene to ulcerative colitis.

Anne Phelan, Chief...

14 October 2021 | Industries

DeepMind hit with class-action lawsuit over NHS health data scandal

DeepMind is facing a class-action lawsuit over its controversial use of NHS patients’ health data back in 2015.

Google-owned DeepMind was quietly given the personal records of 1.6 million patients at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

DeepMind said that it was using the data to create a potentially life-saving app called Streams. The app was designed to alert, diagnose, and detect when patients were at risk of developing acute kidney injury. It’s currently...

1 October 2021 | Ethics & Society

National Robotarium pioneers AI and telepresence robotic tech for remote health consultations

The National Robotarium, hosted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, has unveiled an AI-powered telepresence robotic solution for remote health consultations.

Using the solution, health practitioners would be able to assess a person’s physical and cognitive health from anywhere in the world. Patients could access specialists no matter whether they’re based in the UK, India, the US, or anywhere else.

Iain Stewart, UK Government Minister for Scotland,...

20 September 2021 | Healthcare

NVIDIA launches UK supercomputer to search for healthcare solutions

NVIDIA supercomputer

Nvidia’s ‘Cambridge-1’ is now operational and utilising AI and simulation to advance research in healthcare.

The UK’s most powerful supercomputer and among the world’s top fifty, Cambridge-1 was announced by the technology company in October last year and cost $100 million (£72m) to build.

Its first projects with AstraZeneca, GSK, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies include developing a...

12 July 2021 | Healthcare

Opinion: Adjusting and transforming with AI technologies

When it comes to adopting the latest technologies and enhancing service delivery effectiveness, contact centres have been silently leading the way for years. Few other parts of the business have had to adapt so quickly to the demands of today’s connected consumers, first transitioning from voice to omnichannel and then to becoming engagement hubs supporting a growing number of proactive channels of customer interaction.

For some time now, the sector has also been at the...

7 April 2021 | Applications

Q&A: Netra.ai uses Intel technologies to identify diabetic retinopathy

Netra.ai, a solution developed by Leben Care and the Sankara Eye Foundation, is using Intel technologies to identify diabetic retinopathy in minutes.

India has one of the largest diabetic populations in the world with around 65 million people suffering from the disease. Eye damage caused by diabetes, known as diabetic retinopathy (DR), is estimated will affect around one-third of sufferers.

Dr. Kaushik Murali, President Medical Administration, Quality & Education at...

11 March 2021 | Healthcare

Former NHS surgeon creates AI ‘virtual patient’ for remote training

A former NHS surgeon has created an AI-powered “virtual patient” which helps to keep skills sharp during a time when most in-person training is on hold.

Dr Alex Young is a trained orthopaedic and trauma surgeon who founded Virti and set out to use emerging technologies to provide immersive training for both new healthcare professionals and experienced ones looking to hone their skills.

COVID-19 has put most in-person training on hold to minimise transmission risks....

11 December 2020 | Applications