Google AI model beats humans in detecting breast cancer

In a ray of hope for those who have to go for breast cancer screening and even for healthy women who get false alarms during digital mammography, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based Google model has left radiologists behind in spotting breast cancer by just scanning the X-ray results. Reading mammograms is a difficult task, even for experts, and can often result in both false positives and false negatives. In turn, these inaccuracies can lead to delays in detection and treatment, unnecessary stress for patients and a higher workload for radiologists who are already in short supply, Google said in a blog post on Wednesday. Google's AI model spotted breast cancer in de-identified screening mammograms (where identifiable information has been removed) with greater accuracy, fewer false positives and fewer false negatives than experts. "This sets the stage for future applications where the model could potentially support radiologists performing breast cancer screenings," said Shravya Shetty, Technical Lead, Google Health.