AI can now diagnose heart disease in just four seconds, as study shows machines now 'as good' as doctors

Robots can diagnose heart problems in as little as four seconds, tests have shown, as a review of artificial intelligence (AI) found machines are now as good at spotting illness as doctors. Analysing a patient's heart function on a cardiac MRI scan currently takes doctors around 13 minutes. But a new trial by University College London (UCL) showed an AI programme could read the scans in a fraction of the time with equal accuracy. There are approximately 150,000 such scans performed in the UK each year, and researchers estimate that fully utilising AI to read them could save 54 clinician-days at each cardiac centre per year. It is hoped that AI - where computer systems are able to learn from data to identify new patterns with minimal human intervention - will transform medicine by helping doctors spot diseases such heart disease and cancer quicker and earlier.