Hello ODI Supporter,
There have been more listings of confidential health records this week belonging to UK Biobank volunteers. The records appeared on the Chinese online marketplace Alibaba following previous listings last week, with UK government officials bracing themselves for more leaks. Science minister Patrick Vallance addressed a debate in the House of Lords on the attempted sale of UK Biobank data, saying the government had worked with Chinese officials to remove additional postings. Speaking to the BBC, ODI Director of Research Prof Elena Simperl said the data breach is "not a moment to point fingers, but to take seriously what it tells us about national data infrastructure." Researchers are able to use Biobank’s systems to analyse data and download their results, with researchers formally agreeing not to download the data itself.
The breach occurred as the systems do not prevent data from being downloaded. The head of UK Biobank Professor Sir Rory Collins said he had decided not to impose restrictions as privacy benefits would not outweigh the harms to research by putting obstacles in place. However, Labour chair of the science and technology select committee, Dame Chi Onwurah, said this response “shows a level of complacency and a lack of appreciation of the trust people are putting in them that is wholly unacceptable”. When addressing the House of Lords, Patrick Vallance praised the altruism of UK Biobank volunteers, whose data had helped make many discoveries and breakthroughs in health research.
An AI agent powered by Claude has deleted the entire production database and backups after going rogue for nine seconds. PocketOS, which sells software for car rental businesses, had its database wiped, leading to car rental customers arriving to pick up vehicles, only for the businesses to have no access to the software that managed reservations. When asked why it deleted the data, the AI agent replied “I violated every principle I was given.” The company was able to restore its data from a three-month-old backup, but that process took two days.
We have an array of fantastic free webinars coming up. On Wednesday 6 May we are delighted to be hosting the artist Dr. Alan Warburton and artworld experts as they discuss his new animation Image Empire, reserve your free space here. While on Tuesday 12 May, key figures from smart data and transport will discuss how a Smart Data ecosystem could revolutionise transport systems, find out more here. We’ll be reflecting on the Government’s consultation on Digital ID Consultation, Wednesday 20 May and our Director of Research Professor Elena Simperl will be de-mystifying data-centric AI on Wednesday 27 May.
And finally… thank you to everybody who came to the Solid Symposium on Thursday and Friday this week. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! And we’re delighted to announce that the symposium will return next year, this time in (drum roll) University of St.Gallen…we’ll keep you posted with more details nearer the time!
Until next time.
David and Jo
