DIY AI: One mom's quest to use machine learning to help others detect a rare fetal condition

Melissa Mulholland was 16 weeks pregnant with her second child when her doctor noticed something unusual in an ultrasound scan. It was a rare fetal condition called posterior urethral valves, PUV, and it meant her son wouldn't survive the womb without medical intervention. She was fortunate to have a doctor skilled in detecting the condition and intervening to address it, and the good news is that her son, Conor, is now 5 years old. But the experience left Mulholland thinking about the families who aren't so lucky to have such expert health care. She wondered if technology could be a solution. She's not an engineer, and doesn't have a technical background, but she works at Microsoft, so she's familiar with the latest technologies in her role working with the company's cloud customers and partners. She asked a question that not a lot of people would ask: could artificial intelligence help?