Healthy gains: Microsoft, Google going big on medical research

When Google in 2016 released a paper showcasing its research in diabetic retinopathy, not many had imagined that use of AI products could go far beyond beating humans in games for another few years. Until then, Google’s DeepMind was being used only for such purposes. But Google’s paper changed the dynamics. Not only did the company realise the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning in research, it also spurred others to try out new fields in AI development.

That is one of the reasons that AI has grown to become one of the major game-changing innovations in medical industry. Microsoft last week announced, that it shall be investing $40 million to harness the power of AI for health. While Microsoft will be emulating Google’s work on diabetic retinopathy, the company plans to do much more than that.