On October 19, the International Day of Breast Cancer Awareness, Google highlighted its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve diagnostic tools in healthcare. Recent studies showed a 9.4% reduction in false negatives and a 5.7% decrease in false positives in breast cancer diagnoses.
The World Health Organization recognizes breast cancer as one of the most common cancers, primarily affecting women. Early detection significantly increases treatment effectiveness, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
Adriana Noreña, Google’s Vice President for Latin America, stated, "AI can process vast amounts of data quickly, identify complex patterns, and learn continuously to enhance accuracy, making it a valuable ally for healthcare professionals." She emphasized the importance of involving more women in AI development to ensure technology addresses gender-specific needs.
Google has been utilizing deep learning since 2016 to assist in detecting metastasis through its Lymph Node Assistant (LYNA). This tool analyzes medical images, identifying patterns often undetectable to the human eye, thereby expediting diagnosis and treatment.
In a 2021 clinical study with Northwestern Medicine, Google Health explored how AI could streamline the breast cancer diagnosis process. The AI model, trained on high-quality mammographic images, demonstrated a significant reduction in false negatives and positives while analyzing mammograms in under two minutes.
Recently, Geoffrey Hinton, former Google researcher, won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on artificial neural networks, which laid the groundwork for AI applications in healthcare, including the development of AlphaFold, a tool for predicting protein structures.