Here are 3 problems with DeepMind’s AI breakthrough, including poor accuracy at predicting acute kidney injuries

d ba ce e a ca
DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Image: Google

[Google-affiliated artificial intelligence] DeepMind claimed its biggest healthcare breakthrough to date: that artificial intelligence (A.I.) can predict acute kidney injury (AKI) up to two days before it happens.

…

Beyond the headlines and the hope in the DeepMind papers, however, are three sober facts.

First, nothing has actually been predicted — and certainly not before it happens. Rather, what has happened is that DeepMind has taken a windfall dataset of historic incidents of kidney injury in American veterans, plus around 9,000 data-points for each person in the set, and has used a neural network to figure out a pattern between the two.

Second, that predictive pattern only works some of the time. The accuracy rate is 55.8% overall, with a much lower rate the earlier the prediction is made, and the system generates two false positives for every accurate prediction.

Third, and most strikingly of all: the study was conducted almost exclusively on men — or rather, a dataset of veterans that is 93.6% male. Given the A.I. field’s crisis around lack of diversity and amplification of bias and discrimination, that fact is very important — and astonishingly understated.

Read full, original post: DeepMind’s Latest A.I. Health Breakthrough Has Some Problems

Related Articles

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Infographic: Global regulatory and health research agencies on whether glyphosate causes cancer

Does glyphosate—the world's most heavily-used herbicide—pose serious harm to humans? Is it carcinogenic? Those issues are of both legal and ...

Most Popular

ChatGPT-Image-Mar-10-2026-01_39_01-PM
Viewpoint—“Miracle molecule” debunked: Why acemannan supplements don’t work
ChatGPT-Image-Sep-2-2026-02_03_32-PM
How much of a problem is AI’s water use?
ChatGPT-Image-Sep-22-2026-10_32_46-AM
There has been a slew of recent reports of food recalls and foodborne outbreaks. Do we face an escalating problem?
ChatGPT-Image-Aug-26-2026-12_46_16-PM
Viewpoint: The fake controversy over whether combining childhood vaccines is dangerous— a debate science resolved 25 years ago
ChatGPT-Image-Sep-21-2026-03_41_02-PM
Viewpoint: Does IQ really measure intelligence? BBC gets it wrong.
Screenshot-2026-09-17-at-12.00.30-PM
Investigative group ProPublica finds links between ectopic pregnancy deaths and abortion bans
ChatGPT-Image-Sep-18-2026-01_38_09-PM
Microsoft exec: AI is a ‘doom loop’ scraping the ‘largest theft of labor in human history'
ChatGPT-Image-Sep-23-2026-11_47_32-AM
Facing pressure from Trump administration, fewer hospitals offer medical treatment for transgender minors
Screenshot-2026-09-16-at-3.14.20-PM
19%: Plunging support for Trump-RFK, Jr. measles vaccine safety oversight
Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-11.55.01-AM
How can we know if social media bans actually help teens?
ChatGPT-Image-Sep-10-2026-01_44_53-PM
Viewpoint: Why medical and health nonsense spreads so casually on pop culture media
Screenshot-2026-09-17-at-1.07.08-PM
'We are dangerously addicted to antidepressants': Should we heed RFK Jr.’s sobering warning?
ChatGPT-Image-Sep-17-2026-12_28_43-PM
Vitamin D, omega-3 fish oil and glucosamine supplements could cause brain damage 
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.