“This is exactly the case where work is not outsourced, and certainly not outsourced overseas,” Laura Gilbert, senior director of artificial intelligence at the Tony Blair Institute, a think tank founded by the former prime minister, tells WIRED. “We should learn from this data and build better health care, not allowing an offshore company to learn and create better products that it can sell to someone else.”
Ayub Bhayat, director of data and analytics at the NHS, tells WIRED that the federated data platform helps patients “while saving money for NHS teams and taxpayers.”
“There are no requirements to use it,” he says.
In early June, MPs published a report warning that the UK’s growing dependence on Palantir was an “unacceptable point of weakness”. The company is on track to become deeply entangled in the public sector, a parliamentary committee argued, giving it enormous influence over the British state. The report also described a “clear inconsistency with British values”.
Following the publication of the report, British Technology Secretary Liz Kendall he said that the government is reviewing “every aspect” of the NHS contract with Palantir before deciding whether to continue the deal.
In response to the report by op-ed published by The Telegraph, Mosley accused MPs of “putting politics before patients” and spreading fear over the possibility of the company misusing access to sensitive health data. “Each NHS trust controls its own data; Palantir cannot use, sell or transfer it,” he wrote.
Regardless of whether the government decides to continue its contract with the NHS, Palantir has shown a willingness to resist attempts to force it out of the UK public sector. According to “Times”.the company is preparing to sue London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who blocked a $65 million deal with the Metropolitan Police, citing concerns about the procurement process and “value.”
A few hours after the demonstration began, protesters retreated to a café at a nearby public library.
The group expressed optimism that there would be a noticeable escalate in momentum in calls for Palantir to be kicked out of the NHS, particularly in the wake of the parliamentary report. “We have a really big opportunity right now with the break clause,” says Lurken, co-founder of Pull the Plug.
But there is also a world in which renewed public interest in the Palantir issue could, some argue, backfire if the government decides to move forward with the contract. Another protester, who gave his name as JJ and identified himself as an NHS worker, fears that Palantir’s publicity could make already skittish patients think twice before voluntarily providing information to their doctor, with consequences for their care. “We know people don’t want to tell us everything. People are already distrustful. They will just shut up,” says JJ. “We’re going to get less information and less stories to be able to help people.”
Additional reporting by Isabella Ward.