Google to unleash DeepMind AI on eye diseases - CNET

Fresh off a stunning victory in a hard-to-master board game, Google's DeepMind AI project is bringing its brains to one of the most common medical procedures of all time: the humble eye scan.

Using tech created by DeepMind, a British startup acquired by Google back in 2014, Google 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, according to an announcement by the company on Tuesday.

In partnership with Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, DeepMind will delve deep into identifying the signs of two specific diseases: diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. Together, these diseases affect more than 100 million people worldwide, according to Google.

The aim of the partnership is to investigate how DeepMind's machine leaing brains could be taught to analyze scans for the two diseases, which currently take eye health professionals a long time to do in person due to their complexity. The result would hopefully mean earlier diagnosis for patients and therefore earlier treatment, leading to less deterioration in eyesight further down the line.

"With sight loss predicted to double by the year 2050 it is vital we explore the use of cutting-edge technology to prevent eye disease," said professor Peng Tee Khaw, director of the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre in Ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL, in a statement.