Artificial intelligence developed by Google could soon be used to diagnose disease faster than doctors. The technology giant's AI firm, DeepMind, has a number of contracts with NHS hospitals to use its technology to improve detection and treatment of certain conditions from cancer to eye disease. Researchers have now submitted what it described as'promising' initial findings to a medical journal from a two-year project working with Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. It is thought that the technology, which has been programmed to detect signs of disease such as glaucoma, age related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, could enter clinical trials within a couple of years. Retinal scans from thousands of patients were used to develop an algorithm - a set of mathematical instructions or rules that can work out answers to problems - to spot signs of disease.

Across the world there is an estimated 285 million visually impaired people, and 39 million of these are blind. Conditions like age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy can be picked up is using digital screenings, which are highly complex and take a lot of time to analyse. Now Google's DeepMind Health is teaming up with a London eye hospital to investigate how machine learning could help analyse these scans efficiently and effectively. Moorfields Eue Hospital in London has announced a new medical research partnership with Google's DeepMind Health that could revolutionise the way professionals carry out eye tests and lead to earlier detection of common eye diseases Diabetes is on the rise. It's estimated that 1 in 11 of the world's adult population are affected.