The partnership will help in accelerating the understanding and use of confidential computing as the new frontier for healthcare AI research, development, deployment, and monitoring

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BeeKeeperAI to accelerate AI-powered innovation in healthcare with Microsoft. (Credit: Belova59 from Pixabay)

BeeKeeperAI, a privacy-preserving analytics platform, has expanded its collaboration with Microsoft with an aim to expedite artificial intelligence (AI) powered innovation in healthcare.

The expanded partnership will enable access for algorithm developers and healthcare data stewards to the BeeKeeperAI zero trust platform operating in the Microsoft Azure confidential computing (ACC) environment. The platform can be accessed via the Azure Marketplace.

Furthermore, the extended collaboration aims to fast track the understanding and use of confidential computing as the new frontier for research, development, deployment, and monitoring of healthcare AI.

BeeKeeperAI was created through a collaboration of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) with Microsoft, Intel, and Fortanix.

BeeKeeperAI co-founder and CEO Michael Blum said: “Through our collaboration with Microsoft and our use of Microsoft Azure services, we have developed key insights that will help to prepare the healthcare AI marketplace for confidential computing and provide resources to help data stewards and algorithm developers to effectively work in this new environment.

“We chose Azure because of its privacy and security for data and algorithms as well as the infrastructure needed to compute at scale, in the cloud, across multiple locations.”

BeeKeeperAI is said to make use of the ACC infrastructure’s security and scalability within its applications and services. This enables the platform to deliver a secure and confidential collaboration environment where validation of proprietary AI algorithms can be done against privacy-protected data sets from various organisations.

For securing regulatory approval and clinical adoption, algorithm developers should prove the efficacy of their models. But they find it difficulty in accessing patient datasets without concealing their intellectual property or compromising the privacy of patients.

To address the challenge, BeeKeeperAI is said to have implemented its platform to validate algorithms on protected data sets maintained in the cloud environments of all the participating data stewards that are Azure HIPAA compliant.

Included in the Azure confidential computing environment are Intel SGX secure application enclaves that have minimal cyberattack surface. Algorithm developers, through Azure, can access information from various data stewards to thoroughly validate the generalisability of their algorithms.

Microsoft healthcare and life sciences global chief technology officer John Doyle said: “The opportunity for AI to enable the delivery of better healthcare outcomes continues to expand exponentially, but developers are limited by access to critical datasets to train and to deploy their algorithms.

“We are pleased to partner with BeeKeeperAI to help the healthcare industry develop the understanding and expertise it needs to leverage confidential computing within healthcare innovation.”