£100m to rapidly deploy AI to create breakthroughs in treatments for previously incurable diseases
A new mission announced by the Prime Minister will accelerate the use of AI in life sciences to tackle chronic diseases.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that a £100 million in new UK Government investment will be targeted towards areas where rapid deployment of AI has the greatest potential to create transformational breakthroughs in treatments for previously incurable diseases. The AI Life Sciences Accelerator Mission will capitalise on the UK’s unique strengths in secure health data and cutting-edge AI.
The Life Sciences Vision encompasses eight critical healthcare missions that government, industry, the NHS, academia, and medical research charities will work together on at speed to solve, from cancer treatment to tackling dementia.
The £100 million will help drive forward this work by exploring how AI could address these conditions, which have some of the highest mortality and morbidity.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “AI can help us solve some of the greatest social challenges of our time. AI could help find novel dementia treatments or develop vaccines for cancer.
“That’s why today we’re investing a further £100 million to accelerate the use of AI on the most transformational breakthroughs in treatments for previously incurable diseases.”
For example, AI could further the development of novel precision treatments for dementia. This new government funding for AI will help to harness the UK’s world-class health data to quickly identify those at risk of dementia and related conditions. It will ensure that the right patients are taking part in the right trials at the right time to develop new treatments effectively and receive better data on how well new therapies work.
By using the power of AI to support the growing pipeline of new dementia therapies, the UK Government says it will ensure the best and most promising treatments are selected to go forwards and that patients receive the right treatments that work best for them.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan said: “This £100 million Mission will bring the UK’s unique strengths in secure health data and cutting-edge AI to bear on some of the most pressing health challenges facing the society.
“Safe, responsible AI will change the game for what it’s possible to do in healthcare, closing the gap between the discovery and application of innovative new therapies, diagnostic tools, and ways of working that will give clinicians more time with their patients.”
This funding will help to invest in parts of the UK where the clinical needs are greatest to test and trial new technologies within the next 18 months.
The UK Government will invite proposals bringing together academia, industry, and clinicians to develop innovative solutions.
This funding will target opportunities to deploy AI in clinical settings and improve health outcomes across a range of conditions. It will also look to fund novel AI research which has the potential to create general purpose applications across a range of health challenges, which will help to free up clinicians to spend more time with their patients.
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that people who receive care will benefit from new technology to help improve their independence and reduce avoidable hospital admissions.