Artificial intelligence better than most human experts at detecting cause of preemie blindness

An algorithm that uses artificial intelligence can automatically and more accurately diagnose a potentially devastating cause of childhood blindness than most expert physicians, a paper published in JAMA Ophthalmology suggests. The finding could help prevent blindness in more babies with the disease, called retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP. Musician Stevie Wonder went blind due to this condition. The algorithm accurately diagnosed the condition in images of infant eyes 91 percent of the time. On the other hand, a team of eight physicians with ROP expertise who examined the same images had an average accuracy rate of 82 percent.