AI Detects Diabetic Retinopathy in Real-Time

By 2050, the National Institute of Health (NIH) National Eye Institute estimates that 14.6 million Americans will have diabetic retinopathy. A new study published in The Lancet demonstrates how artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning can screen in real-time for diabetic retinopathy--a leading cause of preventable blindness, particularly in areas with low-income or middle-income economies. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one in four American adults with vision loss reported anxiety or depression. Moreover, vision loss has been linked to fear, anxiety, worry, social isolation, and loneliness. Scientists affiliated with Google Health and their collaborators applied artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning to detect one of the most common causes of preventable blindness--diabetic retinopathy.