Launching 'Nightingale AI': A New Foundation World Model for Health

Photo credit to Michelle McGrath

UK researchers have launched Nightingale AI, a pioneering initiative for a Large Health Model designed to transform healthcare by leveraging NHS data.

London, March 4 – The UK's artificial intelligence research community reached a major milestone with the launch of Nightingale AI, a pioneering initiative for a Large Health Model aimed at transforming the healthcare sector. The initiative, spearheaded by Professor Aldo Faisal, Director of the UKRI Centres in AI for Healthcare at Imperial College London, was unveiled at the prestigious Francis Crick Institute in London, during the launch of the UKRI AI Hub in Generative Models. 

The launch comes as part of the UK government’s broader AI Opportunities action plan, reinforcing the nation’s commitment to advancing AI-driven solutions. The event showcased the launch of the hub, a collaboration between 8 leading UK institutions dedicated to shaping the future of AI in healthcare.

Revolutionising AI in Healthcare

Co-leading the event, Prof. Faisal highlighted the need for AI models tailored specifically for the medical field. Unlike general-purpose AI systems such as ChatGPT, Nightingale AI is designed to leverage vast repositories of electronic patient records, biomedical data, and published medical literature to develop an advanced health-focused AI model.

“We are launching a major AI program to harness the vast resources of UK healthcare and biomedical data,” Prof. Faisal explained. “Our goal is to develop a novel generation of AI foundation models, trained exclusively on healthcare data rather than generic text. This approach will enable us to create a truly transformative system tailored for the medical community.”

A Uniquely British AI Factory for Healthcare

A team from Imperial College London, under Prof. Faisal’s leadership, is leading this world-first initiative, turning the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) data libraries into an AI factory. By building a specialised AI model for healthcare, the team aims to match the intelligence of leading AI models while applying its capabilities to medical research, diagnostics, and treatment.

“No other healthcare system in the world has access to data at this scale and in such a digitally advanced state as the NHS. This advantage allows us to train a Large Health Model capable of driving cutting-edge advancements in medicine, just as ChatGPT has done in the field of language processing." (Aldo Faisal, Professor of AI and Neuroscience and Director of the UKRI Centres in AI for Healthcare)

The Future of 'Nightingale AI'

The impact of Nightingale AI could be far-reaching. The model is expected to enhance medical research, streamline clinical decision-making, and facilitate drug discovery. By leveraging AI in this way, healthcare professionals may soon have access to more precise diagnostic tools, personalised treatment plans, and automated administrative support, ultimately improving patient outcomes and operational efficiency.

As the UK positions itself at the forefront of AI-driven healthcare innovation, Nightingale AI is set to become a benchmark for responsible and transformative AI applications in medicine. With support from the Gen AI Hub and leading universities, this initiative could redefine how artificial intelligence is used in global healthcare.

The launch of Nightingale AI underscores the UK’s ambition to lead in AI research and its commitment to utilising cutting-edge technology for the benefit of patients, clinicians, and medical researchers worldwide.

This research was supported by UK Research and Innovation. [UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for Healthcare grant number EP/S023283/1, UKRI Turing AI Fellowship grant number EP/V025449/1 and UKRI Gen AI Hub EP/Y028805/1]