Ophthalmology and the emergence of artificial intelligence

Scheetz, Jane; He, Mingguang; Wijngaarden, Peter

doi:10.5694/mja2.50932

Topics

Eye diseases

Health services administration

General medicine

Information science

Rapid advances in AI in ophthalmology are a harbinger of things to come for other fields of medicine

The autonomous detection and triage of eye disease, or even accurate estimations of gender, age, and blood pressure from a simple retinal photo, may sound like the realms of science fiction, but advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have already made this a reality.1 Ophthalmology is at the vanguard of the development and clinical application of AI. Advances in the field may provide useful insights into the application of this technology in health care more broadly.

1 Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC
2 State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat‐sen University, Guangzhou, China
3 University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC

Correspondence: peterv@unimelb.edu.au

Acknowledgements:

The Centre for Eye Research Australia receives operational and infrastructure support from the Victorian State Government. Jane Scheetz is supported by a Melbourne Academic Centre for Health Translational Research Fellowship.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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