Success rates for couples trying to have a child via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) could be improved courtesy of a growing number of clinics using artificial intelligence (AI).
One in six couples are affected by infertility, with 52,500 people using IVF in 2022.
But the results are not guaranteed and it can take several rounds to have a successful birth – costing would-be parents many thousands of pounds.
Now there’s hope both the odds and the experience of IVF could be improved; thanks to the small but growing number of clinics around the world using artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the process.
At the Avenues Clinic, by Euston station in north London, we’re shown around a lab that the medical director says “has AI integrated into all aspects of its techniques”.
Dr Jyoti Taneja says AI can be used to select the best sperm, eggs and embryos
Dr Jyoti Taneja says the AI software can tell which sperm, eggs and embryos are healthiest, to be selected for fertilisation and implantation.
As a patient’s sperm sample is surveyed by one of her embryologists, we see individual male gametes appear on the screen circled in green with little letters ‘A,’ ‘B,’ or ‘C.’ This is the AI – she explains – highlighting the ‘best grade’ sperm.
Dr Taneja claims it can save her team hours of work, and will “lead to more successful and healthy outcomes, to minimise miscarriage and other abnormalities”.
Mum-to-be Laura Farrell became pregnant with a little help from AI
After transferring her embryos to the clinic from another practice, mum-to-be Laura Farrell said they used their AI software to select which one to…
