Medical AI may be better at spotting eye disease than real doctors

A recent study from researchers at the Singapore National Eye Center (SNEC) shows just how proficient artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming at recognizing certain illnesses. In a study designed to test the performance of deep learning software, built to recognize and classify retinal images, the medical AI software proved to be reliable in recognizing three major eye diseases. The technology used machine learning to classify retinal images with or without diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. According to Professor Wong Tien Yin, the study's lead and SNEC's medical director, "With the AI system, results (for the screening) should be instantaneous and it can potentially reduce 80 percent of the workload of graders and optometrists, freeing up their time for treatment." This begs the question of how the future of AI will impact the work that doctors do at every level, from diagnosis to treatment.