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Review
. 2021 Oct;125(9):1181-1184.
doi: 10.1038/s41416-021-01454-2. Epub 2021 Jul 14.

Fair shares: building and benefiting from healthcare AI with mutually beneficial structures and development partnerships

Richard Sidebottom  1   2 , Iain Lyburn  3   4   5 , Michael Brady  6 , Sarah Vinnicombe  3   7
Affiliations
Review

Fair shares: building and benefiting from healthcare AI with mutually beneficial structures and development partnerships

Richard Sidebottom et al. Br J Cancer. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are used in an increasing range of aspects of our lives. In particular, medical applications of AI are being developed and deployed, including many in image analysis. Deep learning methods, which have recently proved successful in image classification, rely on large volumes of clinical data generated by healthcare institutions. Such data is collected from their served populations. In this opinion article, using digital mammographic screening as an example, we briefly consider the background to AI development and some issues around its deployment. We highlight the importance of high quality clinical data as fundamental to these technologies, and question how the ownership of resultant tools should be defined. Though many of the ethical issues concerning the development and use of medical AI technologies continue to be discussed, the value of the data on which they rely remains a subject that is seldom considered. This potentially controversial issue can and should be addressed in a way which is beneficial to all parties, particularly the population in general and the patients we serve.

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Conflict of interest statement

R.S.: paid consultant to Google health, previously DeepMind health; paid consultant to Micrima Ltd.; and advisory board for the Cancer Research UK OPTIMAM project (unpaid). I.L.: Medical Director Cobalt medical charity; paid consultant to Micrima Ltd.; and advisory board for the Cancer Research UK OPTIMAM project (unpaid). M.B.: Founder, Chairman, Shareholder of Perspectum Ltd. (quantitative MRI for NASH, liver cancer, diabetes, COVID); Founder, Chairman, Shareholder of ScreenPoint bv (decision support for mammography, tomosynthesis); Founder, Shareholder of Mirada Medical Ltd. (radiological image fusion, decision support for radiation therapy); Founder, Shareholder of Volpara Health (breast imaging services, density, risk); Chairman, Shareholder of Optellum Ltd. (Lung nodule analysis); Interim President, Mohammad Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Abu Dhabi; and Emeritus Professor of Oncological Imaging, Oncology, University of Oxford. S.V.: President of the British Society of Breast Radiologists (no competing financial interests).

References

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