DOD staffers have pushed back on Google's mission for exclusive access to veterans’ skin samples, tumor biopsies, and slices of organs. (via propublica)
In early February 2016, the security gate at a U.S. military base near Washington, D.C., swung open to admit a Navy doctor accompanying a pair of surprising visitors: two artificial intelligence scientists from Google.
More than six years later, Google is still laboring to turn this vast collection of human specimens into digital gold. Pathology experts call the JPC collection a national treasure, unique in its age, size and breadth. The archive holds more than 31 million blocks of human tissue and 55 million slides. More recent specimens are linked with detailed patient information, including pathologist annotations and case histories. And the repository holds many examples of “edge cases” — diseases so vanishingly rare that many pathologists never see them.
Google has told the military that the JPC collection holds the “raw materials” for the most significant biotechnology breakthroughs of this decade — “on par with the Human Genome Project in its potential for strategic, clinical, and economic impact.” “We had hoped to enable the JPC to digitize its data and, with its permission, develop computer models that would enable researchers and clinicians to improve diagnosis for cancers and other illnesses,” Ladd said, noting that all of Google’s health care partnerships involve “the strictest controls” over data. “Our customers own and manage their data, and we cannot — and do not — use it for any purpose other than explicitly agreed upon by the customer,” Ladd said.
“It felt really bad to me,” French said. “Like a slow crush towards the inevitability of some big tech company monetizing it.” A United States Naval Academy physics major and Tulane medical school graduate, Olson worked as a clinical and anatomical pathology resident at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.
Google offered to start the operation by training algorithms with already digitized data in the repository. And it would do this early work “with no exchange of funds.” These types of partnerships free the private parties from having to undergo a competitive bidding process. “As you know, we have the largest pathology repository in the world and a lot of entities will love to get their hands on it, including Google competitors. How do we overcome that?” Rentas asked in an email.
Pathology slides were stacked in aisle canyons, some towering two stories. The slides were arranged in metal trays and cardboard boxes. To access tissue samples, the repository used a retrieval system similar to those found in dry cleaners. The pathology center had just a handful of working scanners. At the pace they were going, it would take centuries to digitize the entire collection.
Over the next 160 years, the tissue collection outgrew several headquarters, including Washington’s Ford Theater and a nuclear-bomb-proof building near the White House. But the main mission — identifying, studying and reducing the calamitous impact of illnesses and injuries afflicting service members — has remained unchanged in times of war and peace.
In its first pitch to the repository’s leaders, Google pointedly mentioned a book-length Institute of Medicine report on the repository that stated that “wide access” to the archive’s materials would promote the “public good.” The biorepository wasn’t living up to its potential, Google said, noting that “no major efforts have been underway to fix the problem.”
In exchange for scanning and digitizing the slide collection at its own expense, Google sought “exclusive access” to the data for at least four years. Niels Olson, who spearheaded the project for the Navy in 2016, declined requests for interviews with ProPublica. But Jackson Stephens, a friend and lawyer who is representing Olson, said Olson had always followed the Institutional Review Board process and worked to anonymize patient medical data before it was used in research or shared with a third party.
“My worldview was that this should be one of the highest priorities of the Defense Department,” William Bushman, then acting deputy undersecretary of personnel and readiness, told ProPublica. “It has the potential to save more lives than anything else being done in the department.” The pathology center hired two experts in AI ethics to develop ethical, legal and regulatory guidelines. Meanwhile, the pressure to cooperate with Google hadn’t gone away.
In August 2020, the JPC published a request for information from vendors interested in taking part in the pilot project. The terms of that request specified that no feedback would be given to companies about their submissions and that telephone inquiries would not be accepted or acknowledged. Such conversations could be seen as favoritism and could lead to a protest by competitors who did not get this privilege.
To Moncur and others in attendance, Flanders was actively negotiating with Google, according to Moncur’s statement to DOD lawyers. “People took offense to that,” Flanders said. “It’s just really pettiness on the part of people who couldn’t get along, honestly.” “I am more worried than ever that DIU’s influence will destroy this acquisition,” a DOD lawyer wrote, referring to efforts to find vendors for the pilot project. He called DIU “essentially an arm of Google.”
Stephens said the JPC would have been much further down the road had it cooperated with Olson. Stephens said it became apparent to Olson that Moncur was “essentially ignoring” a “gold mine that could help a lot of people.” Time was of the essence, Google warned. “The physical slides at the JPC are degrading rapidly each day. … Without further action, the slides will continue to degrade and some may ultimately be damaged beyond repair.”
In a video conference meeting late last summer with Armed Services Committee staff, the leaders of the pathology center attempted to rebut the House committee report. The JPC’s work was going as planned, they said, noting that a million slides had been scanned. And the pathology center was collaborating with the National Institutes of Health to develop AI tools to help predict prognoses for cancer treatments.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hey Google, What's It Like to Use the Built-In Google Interface in the New Honda Accord?Google built-in brings Google Maps, Google Assistant, and the Google Play store into the car.
Read more »
Inside Google cofounders Larry Page, Sergey Brin multi-million-dollar charitiesGoogle cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave $438 million to charities through their foundations last year. Here's where the tech gurus' huge donations went.
Read more »
Google won't risk its reputation to launch a ChatGPT rivalAs the ChatGPT AI goes viral, Google isn't in a hurry to use it for products like Google Search - here's why Google is cautious.
Read more »
2 charged in murder of 77-year-old man shot and killed inside Fox Lake homeAzmi Ibrahim Jr. is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of obstructing justice. Kathryn Deason is charged with obstructing justice.
Read more »
Inside the formula that made 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' a holiday music hit | CNN'A Charlie Brown Christmas' came together with the help of a few brilliant minds, including that of pianist Vince Guaraldi, and a host of unexpected inspiration. The resulting musical formula helped change the sound of Christmas music for generations to come.
Read more »
Inside Pharrell Williams’s Stylish Trip to Dakar for the Chanel ShowThe star talked to Vogue about his favorite moments from his Senegal trip.
Read more »