Google is developing an AI model that can decipher difficult-to-read handwriting, with a focus on notes and prescriptions written by doctors. During its annual conference in India on Monday, the search giant announced that it was working with pharmacists on an AI-powered machine learning model that can decode messily written medical notes (via TechCrunch).
Google showcased the feature during the event, demonstrating its capability to specifically detect medicines in a handwritten prescription. There’s no detail yet on when the new text deciphering feature is expected to launch or specifically what kind of product it might appear in.
We announced today a state-of-the-art AI and machine learning model that can identify and even highlight medicines within handwritten prescriptions. This will act as an assistive technology for digitizing handwritten medical documents by augmenting the humans in the loop such as pharmacists, however no decision will be made solely based on the output provided by this technology.
While this system is currently under development, we look forward to sharing more updates on its broader rollout.
We’ve already seen similar technology implemented via Google Lens, an AI-powered multipurpose object recognition tool that can be used to detect objects (such as products, plants, or animal species) and translate languages. The Google Lens app can already be used to digitally transcribe handwritten notes, though, in our tests, the feature depended on how legible said handwriting is.
Source: TheVerge.com