Google's DeepMind expands NHS partnership to improve eye health

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is expanding its partnership with Google's AI unit DeepMind with the aim of improving the detection, treatment and prevention of eye diseases. Specfically, the DeepMind unit is working with the NHS specialist Moorfields Eye Hospital with the ultimate goal of cutting down the number of patients who suffer from common eye conditions like age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. "We set up DeepMind because we wanted to use AI to help solve some of society's biggest challenges, and diabetic retinopathy is the fastest growing cause of blindness worldwide," DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman said in a statement. Moorfields will share a set of 1 million anonymized eye scans with DeepMind, as well as some related anonymous information about eye condition and disease management. The hospital said it's not possible to identify patients from the scans.