Google AI can predict heart disease by looking at pictures of the retina

The green shown here reveals what Google's AI algorithm determined were the parts of the retinal mage that predicted heart problems (Photo: Google) I can look into your eyes to see straight to your heart. It may sound like a sappy sentiment from a Hallmark card. Essentially though, that's what researchers at Google did in applying artificial intelligence to predict something deadly serious: the likelihood that a patient will suffer a heart attack or stroke. The researchers made such determinations by examining images of the patient's retina. Google, which is presenting its findings Monday in Nature Biomedical Engineering, an online medical journal, says that such a method is as accurate as predicting cardiovascular disease through more invasive measures that involve sticking a needle in a patient's arm. At the same time, Google cautions that more research needs to be done.