The UK government is heavily investing in talented people to seize the potential of AI and ultimately solidify the UK’s position in the AI revolution. Reports on Tuesday publicised the establishment of a new £28 million AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Healthcare.
UK Creates New Center to Nurture AI Talents in Healthcare
The AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Healthcare is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) with the goal of training more than 120 PhD-level researchers, including clinical PhD fellows and allied healthcare professionals, to develop patient-ready AI systems that address critical challenges in healthcare.
During the training, the researchers will focus on the development of AI solutions that will make healthcare provision more efficient and effective, diagnostics and digital biomarkers that can detect disease earlier and faster, and systems that support clinical decision-making to deliver optimised personal treatments.
The researchers will also work on measures to prevent disease and maximise the healthy life span of citizens, as well as accelerate the discovery of new drugs, disease mechanisms, and treatments using AI.
Professor Aldo Faisal, the Centre Director and Principal Investigator, acknowledged that developing patient-ready AI systems would be a challenging task in that it requires state-of-the-art research and understanding of “regulatory, legal, ethical, and human constraints that are specific to health and care.”
“[…] It is extremely challenging to develop and deploy practical AI systems. We have created over the past five years an ecosystem of experts, institutions, stakeholders, data, and networks so that our new UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Healthcare is ready to face this challenge head-on,” said Faisal.
Putting the UK at the Front of the Global AI Race
The UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Healthcare is only one of the 12 new Centres created to nurture the talent that will push the AI revolution forward across different sectors. In total, the UK government, under UKRI, is investing £117 million to nurture the next generation of AI innovators.
Speaking of this, the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan MP, noted that the move will future-proof the nation’s skills base and put the technology to work for good across government and society.
“The UK is at the very front of the global race to turn AI’s awesome potential into a giant leap forward for people’s quality of life and productivity at work, all while ensuring this technology works safely, ethically and responsibly,” Donelan said.
