Google Attempts To Translate Doctors’ Terrible Handwriting

Google is on the verge of introducing the world to a whole new AI technology yet to be seen and that will be beneficial in a number of ways users can’t quantify yet. The search engine giant is building an AI model that can decode challenging handwriting with a focus on doctor’s notes and prescriptions. Reports according to Techcrunch stated the announcement was made earlier today at its annual conference in India, this conference was collaborating with pharmacists to develop a feature in Google Lens that could translate sloppy medical notes.

During the event, Google displayed the feature, showcasing its ability to specifically identify pharmaceuticals in a handwritten prescription. The feature, which will be rolled out on Google Lens, will allow users to either take a picture of the prescription or upload one from the photo library. Currently, there is no information available regarding the date the new text decoding feature will be deployed as there is “more work still to be done before this system is ready for the real world.” 

Asides from the ability to recognize items such as products, plants, or animal species, Google Lens does more than that. It is an AI-powered multipurpose object identification tool that can also translate languages. Even though tests have shown that the capability of this new feature on Google Lens is solely reliant on how legible the handwriting was, the Google Len app can already be used to digitally transcribe handwritten notes. Doctors who are under pressure frequently have been identified to have poor handwriting.

In a statement by the company, this tool will “act as an assistive technology for digitizing handwritten medical documents by augmenting the humans in the loop such as pharmacists, however, no decision will be made solely based on the output provided by this technology.”