Google DeepMind's AI Can Detect 50 Eye Disease Conditions And Save Sight

DeepMind, a Google-owned artificial intelligence company, has developed an AI system that can accurately identify 50 different types of eye condition as accurately as a doctor. The system -- capable of analysing 3D retinal OCT scans for early signs of conditions like glaucoma, diabetic eye disease and macular degeneration -- has been developed through a joint research partnership with Moorfields Eye Hospital in London over the last 18 months. The AI, which can correctly identify types of eye disease from OCT scans 94.5% of the time, learned how to detect eye conditions by studying approximately 15,000 anonymous eye scans. The results of the trial were published in the journal Nature Medicine on Monday. DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman, who leads DeepMind Health, claimed in a blog post that the AI system could help to save people's sight, adding that it could one day be rolled out in hospitals around the world.