How Google India is leveraging AI to detect blindness-causing disease

• Google India is using AI to detect diabetic retinopathy, a blindness-causing disease, and aims to provide six million free screenings in India and Thailand over the next decade.

• In partnership with Saahas Zero Waste, Google’s AI model, CircularNet, will improve waste management by accurately sorting plastic waste, potentially increasing recycling revenue by 10-12% and diverting 90% of recyclable waste from landfills.

• Additionally, Google’s Agricultural Landscape Understanding API will provide farmers with detailed insights to enhance farming practices.

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Google’s AI will help in screening diabetic retinopathy

What’s the story

Google is using its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to improve health screenings in India.

The tech giant has teamed up with local organizations such as Forus Health and AuroLab, with the main aim of boosting screenings for diabetic retinopathy, a diabetes-related condition that can cause blindness if not detected early.

The move comes as part of Google’s wider commitment to using AI for real-world applications, as announced at the recent ‘Google for India’ event.

AI model licensed for diabetic retinopathy screenings

Google has licensed its AI model for diabetic retinopathy to a number of healthcare providers and partners in India.

The company’s AI model has already powered over 600,000 screenings worldwide.

Over the next decade, this effort is expected to enable six million free AI-assisted screenings in India and Thailand, especially for resource-constrained communities.

Sustainability partnership

Google’s AI will also improve waste management

In a bid to boost sustainability and waste management, Google has partnered with Saahas Zero Waste, a Bengaluru-based environmental and social enterprise.

The partnership will leverage Google’s CircularNet model, an open-source machine learning (ML) solution for sorting plastic waste and improving the recycling process.

Powered by TensorFlow, Google’s free and open-source ML library, the CircularNet model can detect plastic waste with 85% accuracy and enhance recognition of high-quality recyclable materials.

AI model’s impact on waste management and revenue

The CircularNet model has been trained on global datasets for quality control and pre-sorting waste quantity assessment.

According to Saahas Zero Waste, the model can boost the identification of high-quality recyclable materials, resulting in a 10-12% increase in revenue.

Notably, it is estimated that about 90% of recyclable waste will be diverted from landfills due to this implementation, greatly reducing environmental impact.

Plans to revolutionize agriculture sector with AI

Google is also looking to revolutionize the agriculture sector by opening its Agricultural Landscape Understanding API (ALU API) to developers.

This will enable farmers across India to get more detailed insights at an individual farm level.

The ALU API was first announced at the company’s I/O Connect Bengaluru developer conference in July and developed through collaborations between Google’s AnthroKrishi team, researchers, and state as well as union governments across India.

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