The UK Government has allocated shares of £13 million to support research into the use of AI in healthcare.
It has also appointed two experts in the field to lead preparations for an international summit on the safe use of AI technologies.
Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan MP announced the funding allocation on a visit to University College London (UCL), saying it will be channelled into research for innovation in healthcare with shares going to 22 university and NHS trust projects.
It is part of the UK Research and Innovation Technology Missions Fund.
A joint announcement by the Department for Science, Technology and Innovation and the Department of Health and Social Care highlighted a handful of projects, including one led by UCL’s Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences. This has received more than £500,000 to investigate how AI could be used in surgery for one of the most common types of brain tumour.
Others to receive support include a University of Sheffield project to validate an approach for treating nerve pain (£463,000), the University of Oxford to accelerate research into a foundation AI model for clinical risk prediction (£640,000), and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to develop a system that assists trainee surgeons in keyhole surgery.
The funding comes on top of £21 million recently allocated to healthcare trusts to roll out AI diagnostic tools.
International leader
Donelan commented: “By leading on the international stage, we will improve lives at home. AI will revolutionise the way we live, including our healthcare system. That’s why we’re backing the UK’s fantastic innovators to save lives by boosting the frontline of our NHS and tackling the major health challenges of our time.”
The two appointments for the summit, due to take place in the UK during the autumn, are Matt Clifford, CEO of investment company Entrepreneur First and chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, and Jonathan Black, Heywood fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.
They will serve as the prime minister’s representatives in an effort to develop a shared approach to mitigating the risks of AI in healthcare.
