Could artificial intelligence help fight blindness? The NHS is collaborating with Google to find out Digital The Drum

The NHS is pairing up with Google's artificially intelligent image software DeepMind for a new medical research partnership that could play a "big role in tackling avoidable sight loss." Specialists at the NHS-funded Moorfields Eye Hospital in London will use DeepMind, the internet giant's machine learning project, to research whether the technology can help detect and prevent eye diseases and blindness. DeepMind will be applied to one million anonymous eye scans to look for early signs of eye conditions that humans might miss such as macular degeneration and retinal conditions caused by diabetes. The end goal of the research is to create a more efficient method by which to analyse data and come to an earlier diagnosis for patients. The number of people suffering from sight loss in the UK is predicted to double by 2050, and the project marks Google's first machine learning collaboration with healthcare specialists.