The low cost and scalability of AI could enable breast cancer screening in the developing world.

“

The vast majority of research into artificial intelligence is focused around the accuracy and precision of the technology that is developed, and is usually tested and validated within developed economies. For example, the key research covered in the paper, DeepMind's breast cancer detection artificial intelligence, was trained, tested and validated on patients only from the USA and the UK. It is well established that breast cancer rates are increasing in the developing world, at a rate of 0.5 - 1% per annum, and largely due to huge populations, dwindling numbers of specialist radiologists, and limited financial resources, are unable to implement the radiologist-led screening programmes we are accustomed to in the West. In this regard, artificial intelligence represents the only viable solution to tackle the growing rates of breast cancer in such countries.

”