What Palantir tells us about the real risk of AI in healthcare.
By Helen Fitzhugh – Director
What happens when AI in healthcare becomes a story for all the wrong reasons?
In real time, we can see US-owned Palantir’s NHS contract come under increasing media scrutiny, not just on its deliverables, but also on Palantir itself.
Calls to cancel the contract are based on Palantir’s American ownership. The politics and public statements of its founders and leadership. Questions about data sovereignty. And whether the values of the company align with those of the NHS.
This creates a problem that goes far beyond Palantir.
For health and life sciences organisations, delivering the technology is no longer enough. Stakeholders also need to trust the organisation delivering it.
And our research suggests there is a significant gap between how the industry thinks about AI and how its stakeholders do.
In 2026, the National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare asked patients, the public and industry about the regulatory environment surrounding AI.
The results were almost mirror images.
Some 77% of patients and the public thought the current regulatory framework was somewhat or too loose. Among industry respondents, 65% thought it was somewhat or too restrictive.
That is an extraordinary disconnect.
Health and life sciences organisations naturally talk about AI in terms of what it can do: better diagnostics, faster drug discovery, greater efficiency, reduced administration and improved patient outcomes.
But stakeholders may be asking very different questions.
- Who is accountable?
- What happens to my data?
- Who ultimately controls the technology?
- What happens when something goes wrong?
- And can I trust the organisation behind it?
A desire for regulation can therefore sometimes be understood as a proxy for something deeper: a desire for accountability, transparency, clear rules and clear responsibilities.
That should change how health and life sciences organisations talk about AI.
Innovation matters.
But increasingly, governance is part of the story, not something that sits behind it.
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