The FDA today approved what it's calling "the first medical device to use artificial intelligence to detect greater than a mild level of the eye disease diabetic retinopathy." The AI-powered, cloud-based system will be available for use by primary care providers. Over 30 million Americans have diabetes, and diabetic retinopathy--which occurs when blood sugar levels result in damage to retinal blood vessels--is considered mostly preventable. Still, it causes vision loss in tens of thousands of people each year and is the leading cause of blindness among working-age Americans. "Many patients with diabetes are not adequately screened for diabetic retinopathy since about 50 percent of them do not see their eye doctor on a yearly basis," Malvina Eydelman, MD, said in the FDA's official announcement.