By: Harry de Quetteville
May 1, 2019
DeepMind, Google’s artificial intelligence division famous for jaw-dropping but arcane achievements, like designing an algorithm that can beat the world’s best player of Go, has shown off a prototype of a machine with an equally impressive but this time real-world application – scanning eyes for complex and sometimes fatal diseases.
Why is it Important?
Two reasons. One: it is a practical breakthrough. While justly proud of its triumph in Go, DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman’s previous big example of an applied win was his company’s prowess in cooling Google’s server farms – which, while important, is less sexy than saving lives. Two: Deepmind promises that its device dishes out diagnoses every bit as good as world-leading eye doctors, but those doctors say it can also explain the reasoning behind its diagnoses. Which brings us on to explainability.