Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla Will Continue Large-Scale Nvidia Chip Orders 
FDA Biologics Chief Vinay Prasad to Leave Agency in April Amid Policy Disputes 
Federal Appeals Court Blocks Trump-Era Hospital Drug Rebate Plan 
SK Hynix Eyes Up to $14 Billion U.S. IPO to Fund AI Chip Expansion 
Novartis’ Vanrafia Shows Strong Phase 3 Results in IgA Nephropathy, Paving Way for Full Approval 
Amazon's "Transformer" Phone: Can It Succeed Where Fire Phone Failed? 
Weight-Loss Drug Ads Take Over the Super Bowl as Pharma Embraces Direct-to-Consumer Marketing 
TrumpRx.gov Highlights GLP-1 Drug Discounts but Offers Limited Savings for Most Americans 
Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Eyes Helium Supply Risks Amid Middle East Conflict 
Amazon's AWS Could Hit $600 Billion in Revenue as AI Reshapes Cloud Growth 
Meta Ties Executive Pay to Aggressive Stock Price Targets in Major Retention Push 
RFK Jr. Overhauls Federal Autism Panel, Sparking Medical Community Backlash 
Alibaba Bets on AI Agents to Unify Its Vast Digital Ecosystem 
Innovent Biologics Shares Rally on New Eli Lilly Oncology and Immunology Deal 
It would seem that the time when machines surpass the ability of humans to do intricate work is almost here. One of Google’s Artificial Intelligence projects is apparently capable of diagnosing the retina of patients to see if they are about to go blind. The search engine company even went so far as to claim that the AI is better than actual doctors at diagnosis.
As Google noted in a blog post about the AI, Diabetic retinopathy is a quickly rising cause of blindness among patients in the world. The disease is treatable, but only if it is caught early enough to respond to treatments. This is where effective diagnosis comes into play.
“Unfortunately, medical specialists capable of detecting the disease are not available in many parts of the world where diabetes is prevalent,” the blog post reads. “We believe that Machine Learning can help doctors identify patients in need, particularly among underserved populations.”
The findings with regards to the diagnostic capabilities of the AI was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The paper included proposals on certain potential benefits that machine learning could provide with regards to diagnosing medical problems and even helping to find ways to treat them.
In the case of blindness caused by Diabetic retinopathy, the AI is fed images of retinas, which it will then scan and analyze for any of the telltale sign of impending blindness. After going through 128,000 images of retinas with the traits that led to the condition, the AI was given 10,000 new images to diagnose. Based on the results, the machine was much better at detecting which images posed the biggest threat of blindness for the subjects.
There are significant advantages to having this kind of powerful tool, especially with regards to detecting and curing diseases. However, there is also the startling implication that if a machine can replace vocations as complex and important as those in the medical profession, just how much of human society can AI replace?
