Google to focus DeepMind's AI on eye diseases

Fresh off a stunning victory in a nearly-impossible-to-master board game, Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence project is bringing its brainpower to the humble eye scan. Google, which acquired British startup DeepMind in 2014, is partnering with the UK's state-run National Health Service. The mission: to create a system whereby sight-threatening conditions can be diagnosed from just a single scan of the eye, the company said Tuesday. Together, these diseases affect more than 100 million people worldwide, according to Google. Google will investigate how DeepMind's technology can be taught to analyze scans for the two diseases --the diagnoses of which have been time-consuming efforts for eye doctors due to their complexity.