Artificial intelligence continues to become more integrated into our lives. Especially in the last two years, with the rise of ChatGPT, the AI trend has gained momentum, prompting scientists to take action. Accordingly, scientists have developed an application that uses artificial intelligence to diagnose otitis media, or ear infections.

Application diagnosing otitis media with artificial intelligence and its features

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a smartphone application capable of diagnosing ear infections. This application offers the ability to diagnose ear infections by analyzing images taken from inside the ear using artificial intelligence. Acute otitis media (AOM) is one of the most common diseases in children for which antibiotics are prescribed. However, diagnosing this disease requires expertise.

Even expert doctors sometimes confuse AOM with a regular ear infection, leading to unnecessary antibiotic use in children. According to research, 70% of children contract AOM before the age of one. Researchers have developed an application using artificial intelligence for the diagnosis of AOM, which requires expertise.

Firstly, researchers obtained 1,135 videos of eardrums from 635 children undergoing AOM treatment. Adding explanations to these diseased eardrum videos, researchers trained artificial intelligence on the subject of AOM. Experts also showed similar cases of acute otitis media with videos and trained artificial intelligence.

Researchers also trained artificial intelligence on the structure and anatomy of the eardrum. After this training, artificial intelligence successfully diagnosed acute otitis media with 93% accuracy.

Interestingly, while artificial intelligence achieved a 93% diagnosis rate for AOM, doctors’ rates ranged from 30% to 84%. In short, the trained artificial intelligence provided a more accurate result for ear infections than doctors.

Of course, it is not accurate to declare artificial intelligence as a doctor. Researchers say that this application will assist doctors in diagnosing ear infections. This will increase the chance of earlier and more accurate diagnoses for acute otitis media treatments.

Do you think artificial intelligence can truly replace professions like medicine? We await your comments.