Professor Alastair Denniston is a consultant ophthalmologist (eye specialist) at  University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and the Centre for Regulatory Science and Innovation (Birmingham, UK), leading a programme of work in health data research and the application of digital healthcare (including artificial intelligence) to improve patient care in the ‘real world’. He is Co-Director of INSIGHT, the UK’s Health Data Research Hub for Eye Health, jointly leads the international reporting guidelines for clinical trials of AI health technologies (SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI) and is a Member of the UK Government’s Regulatory Horizons Council.