Google Health will reabsorb DeepMind’s health business as part of a plan to transform its Stream mobile app into an AI assistant for physicians and nurses.

The healthcare giant announced its decision Tuesday to take back the U.K.-based AI company, an autonomous company that operates within the Alphabet Group, which has since helped it on a number of projects, including the use of AI in reading mammograms and head and neck CT scans, and data mining of historical health records from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to predict patient deterioration.

"It's been a phenomenal journey to see Streams – our mobile app that supports doctors and nurses to deliver faster, better care to patients – go from initial idea to live deployment, and to hear how it's helped change the lives of patients and the nurses and doctors who treat them," a spokesperson for DeepMind told HCB News. "Our vision is for Streams to now become an AI-powered assistant for nurses and doctors everywhere, combining the best algorithms with intuitive design, all backed up by rigorous evidence. However, it has become clear that in order to build on the success of Streams and our research projects, we need more resources and expertise to help us scale. The team working within Google, alongside brilliant colleagues from across the organisation, will help make this vision a reality."

The reabsorption by Google Health places all commercial applications deployed by the DeepMind Health group under the Google name beginning this week, when it finishes its run as an independent brand. This includes the Streams app, which is designed to automatically evaluate test results and alert relevant clinicians to potentially serious problems, such as kidney failure, providing them with information on previous conditions to assist in making diagnoses.

Google plans to advance its capabilities by combining the best algorithms with evidence in an intuitive design, and will work with DeepMind to implement the findings of its research in clinical settings. Its ownership under Google will also include the establishment of a products division incorporating health hardware, as well as a research effort.

The decision to take back the business is part of a broader strategy to increase collaboration and communication with Verily and among Alphabet’s various health projects. Leading this new endeavor is Dr. David Feinberg, the former Geisinger CEO, recently hired by Google to develop a strategy for the company’s various health and health-adjacent businesses.

"I can't think of a better person than Dr. David Feinberg to lead health efforts at Google, helping to make a difference to the lives of millions of patients around the world," Mustafa Suleyman, co-Founder and head of Applied AI at DeepMind, told HCB News. "I'm excited to watch Streams take flight."

Despite Suleyman's excitement, the switch has raised concerns, stemming from a past incident in 2016, when the company was accused of obtaining inappropriate access to the medical information of 1.6 million patients for Streams through its collaboration with NHS hospitals. Many critics expressed fear over the amount of data that could potentially be accessed by DeepMind's parent company, Google, believing it would be linked to Google accounts, products and services, according to New Scientist. The deal was later deemed illegal by the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), reported The Verge.

DeepMind admitted wrongdoing in its original deal, saying that it “underestimated the complexity of the NHS and of the rules around patient data,” and did not explain the deal well enough to patients and the public. It stressed that its operations were autonomous from Google, and to dissuade worries, redrew its contracts with the NHS, and even formed an independent review board in 2016 to evaluate its work.

With its reabsorption, however, worries have once again resurfaced over the loss of its autonomy from Google and DeepMind's decision to shutdown the board, deeming it a "governance structure for DeepMind Health as a U.K. entity" but not the "right structure" in Google plans to expand the reach of the app beyond British shores, according to The Verge.

“DeepMind said it would never connect Streams with Google. The whole Streams app is now a Google product. That is an atrocious breach of trust, for an already beleaguered product,” Dr. Julia Powles of New York University School of Law said in a tweet.

Many are also concerned about the impact the move will have on the renegotiation of contracts between DeepMind and NHS hospitals.

DeepMind, however, says data remains under the control of its partners and that decisions regarding its use will lie with them. It also states that while contracts have not moved to Google, no changes have been made regarding where the data processed is stored. "We are currently in conversations with all of our NHS partners to plan for the team's transition," said the spokesperson.

The DeepMind health team will remain in London and continue to work alongside its academic and National Health Service partners. It also will retain control over certain projects, including its development of algorithms for detecting eye disease more quickly and accurately, planning cancer radiotherapy treatment in seconds rather than hours, and detecting patient deterioration from electronic records.

As of June 2018, ten NHS hospitals have signed deals to utilize the app in their practices.