Google AI detect diabetic retinopathy

“Solve intelligence. Use it to make the world better”.

Google has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model that can detect diabetic retinopathy with a level of accuracy on balance with human retinal specialists. Google is working on rolling out this diabetic retinopathy initiative in clinics in India. More than 400 million people in the world have diabetics. A third of them have diabetic retinopathy, a complication that can cause permanent blindness. Using the new beneficial technology, doctors and staff can screen more patients in less time, sparing people from blindness through a more timely diagnosis.

While the blindness can be prevented, diabetic retinopathy often goes undetected because people do not always get screenings. In major part, this is due to limited access to eye care specialists and staff capable of screening for the disease. This is a problem that AI can help to solve. Using this technology in underserved communities that do not have enough eye specialists could be life- changing for many people. Google began to work on the model in collaboration with eye specialists in India and the US a few years ago.

They developed an AI system to help doctors analyse images of the back of the eye for signs of diabetic retinopathy. The results were perfect and it should work to make the benefits of AI available to everyone. Google has applied AI research and engineering projects in Asia Pacific with positive societal impact for several years. Besides healthcare, the tech giant also wants to support more Asia Pacific organizations in using AI to help society by engaging with governments, non-profit organizations, universities and businesses. For this purpose, it has launched “Google AI Impact Challenge“. Selected companies who apply to the challenge will receive support from Google’s AI experts and Google.org grant funding from a $ 25 million pool.

M.Nasreen