---
title: "This “AI Doctor” Can Predict Acute Kidney Conditions 2 Days Early"
description: "Researchers at DeepMind have found that their machine learning AI could alert medical health professionals of future kidney injury 48 hours early."
date: "2019-08-01"
modified: "2019-08-01"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/deepmind-ai-predict-kidney-injury"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "ai medicine"
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "DeepMind"
  - "the digest"
---

# This “AI Doctor” Can Predict Acute Kidney Conditions 2 Days Early

![Researchers at DeepMind have found that their machine learning AI could alert medical health professionals of future kidney injury 48 hours early.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/deepmind-ai-predict-kidney-injury.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Kidney Predictor

Researchers from Alphabet-owned company DeepMind [say a new AI](<https://deepmind.com/blog/predicting-patient-deterioration/>) can ingest a patient's medical history and predict, with 90 percent accuracy, whether they're going to need dialysis for acute kidney injury 48 hours before it occurs.

"Currently we pick these things up too late and harm is caused to patients, and we think there's a real opportunity for these AI systems to be able to predict and prevent rather than just what currently happens, which is clinicians almost firefighting and running around problems that have already developed," DeepMind clinical lead Dominic King [told *Wired*](<https://www.wired.co.uk/article/deepmind-streams-ai-algorithm-kidney-injury>).

## Training Wheels

The team fed health data from more than 700,000 Veterans Affairs hospital patients across the U.S. to their neural network.

Their results were promising, according to [a paper](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1390-1.epdf?referrer_access_token=UBVKbv-tD9jovOpeGpWo59RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OO9fgE6wEDGKHtBapeNmWWzz9wyyfTAvorgXNwNkEm7A_yi9mkISqql3N4fyYacKPFBlwDxK13U9zKXut08ik_eO1hl3Dug_v5c7xwg4rf13EcHuwYugugwssSOPF66KlNozRbV7QoNjV7Txk_oXXymrH2qoy_z0K3lKzkfODHxg%3D%3D&tracking_referrer=www.statnews.com>) about the research published Wednesday in the journal *Nature:* the system can even tell doctors what piece of medical data tipped it off that a kidney crisis was imminent.

## Far From Perfect

But while the system is speedy, it's way too trigger-happy: it reported two false positives for every correctly identified kidney injury.

The researchers also have yet to see how well it works with patients outside of the VA hospital system.

**READ MORE:** [DeepMind AI predicts acute loss of kidney function two days in advance, study shows](<https://www.statnews.com/2019/07/31/deepmind-artificial-intelligence-predicts-acute-kidney-injury/>) \[*STAT*\]

**More on DeepMind:** *[There’s a Power Struggle Inside Google to Control Superhuman AI](<https://futurism.com/google-deepmind-control-superhuman-ai>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)