It was created by two students from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and received the BegIA name. It is a technology capable of giving you an ophthalmological pre-diagnosis that distinguishes between different diseases. So, you can detect in seconds if anyone has cataracts, glaucoma or diabetic retinopathywhich are the 3 main causes of vision loss and blindness worldwide.
How this app works that prevents you from blindness
just need a selfi for artificial intelligence to ‘do magic’ analyzing the image and issuing a diagnosis. Artificial intelligence recognizes a frontal image of the person’s face with deep learning and is capable of knowing if they have any of the reference diseases. If the diagnosis is positive and indicates that you may have one of these diseases, you will have to go to a specialist to really make your personalized diagnosis and treat you if necessary to prevent future blindness before it is too late.
This new app that comes under the BegIA project is designed to be used anywhere in the world, to also reach places where there is no easy access to healthcare. The early diagnosis of these diseases requires a fundus eye exam by a specialist in ophthalmology with the necessary instruments, but now this app will make it easier for you to have a quick early diagnosis.
Its developers Igor García Atutxa and Francisca Villanueva talk more about it in a YouTube video. However, if you have a nearby specialist and you suspect any of these diseases, it is best to make an appointment as soon as possible.
For now, the algorithm is developed and they are working to train it with more images to perfect it much more. It is estimated that it will be available in two years, although it may take a little longer to reach the market. For now, they are trying to get as many images of people with glaucoma, cataracts or retinopathy to be as accurate as possible, collecting them from different sites.
In addition, they have already created its first version of the BegIA Android mobile app, although it still has a lot to improve and they want to develop a more sophisticated one with more functionalities in the future. This is aimed at both the medical community and people who fear having any of these diseases. In a while we will discover how the technology advances, the app and how it finally reaches the market.
We still have many things to discover about her until it is officially presented, but we are looking forward to knowing more and being able to try it as soon as it is available. It will undoubtedly be a breakthrough in the medical community and will help many people by giving an early diagnosis.