Japanese Company's AI to Offer 5-Minute Dementia Diagnosis

Japanese data analysis company Fronteo is planning to kick off clinical trials as soon as early 2021 on a diagnostic tool for dementia that uses artificial intelligence (AI), reports the Nikkei Asian Review . This would make it the first company in Japan to conduct clinical trials of such a system. The tool analyzes five- to 10-minute conversations between patient and doctor, with diagnosis itself taking 60 seconds. It transcribes these conversations into written text, using AI to analyze the structure and words in the text. The doctor makes the final diagnosis according to the results of the AI analysis. Basic testing indicated that the product accurately diagnosed dementia 85 percent of the time, a rate similar to that of medical specialists. The system is engineered to minimize stress on both doctors and patients, and help with early dementia diagnosis. Fronteo aims to initiate commercial sales of the system in 2022.