YOU MAY never have heard of diabetic retinopathy, but this nasty condition is the fastest-growing cause of blindness in the world. It poses a risk to the 415 million people with diabetes—nearly 5 percent of the world’s population. The condition occurs when chronically high blood sugar damages the tiny vessels that provide blood to the retina. People who suffer from diabetic retinopathy can begin to experience distorted vision and ultimately go blind. And here’s the even deeper tragedy: Diabetic retinopathy can be prevented; it just needs to be detected early.
With so many people at risk of this condition, the world simply doesn’t have enough ophthalmologists available to diagnose them, especially in developing countries. But a couple of years ago, a clever team at Google, using computers and code, decided to test the latest deep learning techniques to identify the condition. The results—published in late November— were inspiring. The deep learning algorithm was able to screen for the disease just as accurately as doctors in the field. What that means is we may eventually be able to put the ability to diagnose this disease in the hands of anybody with a smartphone—and save millions of people from going blind.