COMPUTERS are better than doctors at spotting illnesses from scans, a study shows.

Artificial Intelligence correctly diagnoses disease in 87 per cent of cases — one per cent more than medics.

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It also beat doctors in identifying illness-free patients, getting it right in 93 per cent of cases compared to 91 per cent.

The experts analysed results from 14 studies using deep learning — a form of AI that examines thousands of scans to pinpoint disease patterns, improving its accuracy and speed of diagnosis as it does so.

Lead researcher Prof Alastair Denniston, from Birmingham University, said deep learning could “detect diseases ranging from cancers to eye diseases as accurately as health professionals”, but did not “substantially out-perform” them.

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Dr Tessa Cook, from Pennsylvania University, questioned whether AI could be compared to doctors in hospitals where data is “messy, elusive, and imperfect”.

Cambridge University risk expert Professor David Spiegelhalter told Lancet Digital Health: “Deep learning can be a powerful and impressive technique, but what does it actually add to clinical practice?”

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