Deep Mind co-founder put on leave

MUSTAFA SULEYMAN, co-founder of Google’s London AI lab Deepmind, is taking a leave of absence amid controversy over some of its work.

Deepmind, which Google bought for about £400m in 2014, is seen as a leading force in artificial intelligence research but has been criticised over its work with the NHS.

Mr Suleyman, who set it up in 2010 with chief executive Demis Hassabis, has been one of Deepmind’s public faces since it was bought.

He is the lab’s head of applied AI and led the development of the company’s

A spokesman said he was ‘taking time out after 10 hectic years’ but did not say why he was put on leave

healthcare arm, until it was transferred to Google last year.

A spokesman told Bloomberg Mr Suleyman was “taking time out right now after 10 hectic years” but did not say why he had been put on leave.

In 2017 the Information Commissioner’s Office said data from 1.6m patients had been illegally shared with the firm by the capital’s Royal Free Hospital.

At the time, Mr Suleyman said it had “underestimated the complexity of the NHS and of the rules around patient data, as well as the potential fears about a well-known tech company working in health”.

Last year his company was forced to defend the decision to transfer its health division to Google, having previously promised that the two would remain separate.