San Francisco Frontiers - UK fears grow over AI giant Palantir's health service deal

The US company, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel -- a close ally of US President Donald Trump -- has enjoyed a growing role in Britain's public sector and the contract, awarded in 2023, allows it to provide a data management platform to the NHS.

Worth around $440 million, the Federated Data Platform (FDP) is designed to improve coordination between hospitals and help manage and streamline appointments, making more efficient use of resources.

The NHS insists sensitive patient data remains stored in Britain, is not owned by Palantir and is not used for commercial purposes or AI training.

But critics point to the firm's broader work, including with the Israeli military and US immigration authorities, arguing such activities undermine any technological benefits as well as trust in the health service.

"The NHS has to function on trust -- the trust I can tell my doctor anything. Those ethical concerns are basically poisoning everything," Duncan McCann, head of technology and data at the campaign group Good Law Project, told AFP.

- 'Break the contract' -

Medical organisations and rights activists are planning protests on Thursday outside some 30 hospitals as well as Palantir's London headquarters.

They are urging the government to use a break clause that would prevent the contract being renewed beyond March 2027.

So far new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took office in July, has not publicly commented on the contract, which is under review with ministers expected to decide by December.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has urged doctors not to use the platform, citing risks to patient trust, data security and NHS independence.

"Given Palantir's track record, including controversies in the US involving immigration enforcement... we believe there must be a complete break from Palantir technologies in the NHS," BMA chair Tom Dolphin told the British Medical Journal in February.

A YouGov poll published in July found 65 percent of Britons backed ending the contract.

But supporters argue the system is delivering results and around two-thirds of NHS hospitals have adopted the platform.

Palantir, which did not respond to AFP requests for a comment, says it has helped enable 110,000 additional operations while reducing waiting lists.

"The benefits of the FDP service are clear, with thousands more patients benefitting every month, including through the reduction in the number of unnecessary days spent in hospital after treatment," a Department of Health spokesperson told AFP.

The debate has widened beyond healthcare.

A parliamentary committee recently warned of growing UK dependence on US technology providers, and one of its members, Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley, has called for a "sovereign" British alternative.

"That has to be within the control of a UK, preferably UK-owned firm, but certainly a UK firm that understands the ethics and way that the NHS works," he told AFP.

He warned of the risks that Trump could arbitrarily decide that Palantir's services to the UK could be "switched off" if for instance "he doesn't like what Andy Burnham says, or they differ on Ukraine or something".

- Alternatives -

Palantir has secured multiple public sector contracts in Britain, including a £240-million defence deal signed in 2025.

The UK is now Palantir's second-largest global market, accounting for 10 percent of the company's revenue in 2025.

France however this year decided to move away from using Palantir's software in their intelligence agencies, replacing it with software developed by French company ChapsVision.

German media reported that Berlin has acquired the French technology and is testing it.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also blocked a £50-million contract between the Metropolitan Police and Palantir in May, citing procurement concerns, prompting the company to launch legal action.

Several British organisations have also chosen to part ways with the firm.

In northern England, NHS Greater Manchester, which manages the region's hospitals and local healthcare providers, has spent the past decade building its own data platform capable of performing some of the same functions as the FDP.

"What we've built to meet the system needs is better" for local patients, the provider's chief data officer, Matt Hennessey, told AFP, adding other regions could also achieve the same results.

C.Lewis--SFF