韓国のペット診療 ＡＩ診断導入でハイテク化

【龍仁（韓国）ＡＦＰ＝時事】不自然な歩き方をし始めた５歳の愛犬「モッジ」を心配して、飼い主の男性は韓国・龍仁にある動物病院へ急きょ向かった。その動物病院では、ＡＩ（人工知能）による診断が行われている。（写真は、韓国・龍仁の動物病院で、ＡＩ〈人工知能〉による診断を受けるゴールデンドゥードルの「モッジ」）
　ゴールデンドゥードルの「モッジ」は、ＡＩによるＸ線検査で、膝を脱臼している可能性が２２％であると診断された。急を要する事態ではなかったが、手術を回避するためには慎重な治療が必要な状態だった。
　「飼い主にとっては理解しにくかったことも、今は獣医師がＡＩを使ってＸ線検査の分析結果を示してくれるので、直感的に理解できるし、とても分かりやすい」とモッジの飼い主は話した。
　Ｘ線検査で分かる異常を、数秒で特定してくれるシステム「Ｘ Ｃａｌｉｂｅｒ」は、診断を迅速にし、獣医師の負担を軽くしている。このシステムを開発した韓国の通信大手ＳＫテレコムによると、「Ｘ Ｃａｌｉｂｅｒ」の疾病検出率は最大で８６％に上るという。
　獣医師は診断する能力が一変したと話す。
　「このシステムが使われる以前、放射線科医のいない病院ではＸ線検査で撮影された写真を見て『このペットのどこが悪いのだろう？』と、ざっくりと診断していた。ＡＩが導入された今、この診断支援サービスを使って、実際に病気や疑わしい箇所を見つけることができる。（中略）Ｘ線検査を使った診断は、かなり効率的になった」と、スカイ・アニマル・メディカルグループのオ・イセＣＥＯは話した。
　韓国政府の統計によると、同国のペットの飼育数は過去１０年で約２倍になった。
　世界でも出生率が最も低い国の一つである韓国では、子どもを持つ代わりに「ペットの親」になることを選ぶ人が増えていて、ＡＩによる動物の診療が普及していることは自然な流れだという。
　こうしたＡＩ技術への巨額投資を疑問視する専門家もいるが、ペット診療の効率化につながっているとして、歓迎する声もある。
　「Ｘ Ｃａｌｉｂｅｒ」グローバルチームの責任者は「私たちはこのシステムをＡＩ診療の幕開けだとみなしている。これを基にして、さらに新たな領域への拡大を計画している」と話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/11-19:22）

When five-year-old goldendoodle Mozzi started walking unnaturally, his concerned owner rushed him to the vet in South Korea, where the problem was diagnosed not by humans but by AI.
South Korea, a global leader in the production of chips that power generative AI, has been quick to embrace novel uses of the technology.
One such application, X Caliber, is helping vets pinpoint X-ray abnormalities in seconds, making diagnostics both quicker and easier to explain.
The AI reading of Mozzi's X-rays showed the curly-haired goldendoodle had a 22 percent chance of knee dislocation. While not an emergency, his condition needed careful management to head off surgery.
I wouldn't have understood the results if I didn't look at the numbers, said Mo Jae-hyun, Mozzi's owner, adding that the AI program helped him understand his pet's woes.
Of course, I trust my vet, but looking at the results myself, it seems more credible.
The software's developer, South Korean telecom provider SK Telecom, said X Caliber has a disease detection rate of up to 86 percent.
Vets say it has transformed their ability to diagnose.
Dogs with heart disease, for example, tend to have enlarged hearts. We use a method called VHS (vertebral heart size), which used to require measuring one by one, manually, Oh I-se, CEO of Sky Animal Medical Group, told AFP.
But now AI can reveal the result in 15 seconds, so it is much more convenient, Oh said.
- Global aims -
SK Telecom considers X Caliber the beginning of AI healthcare, said Joo Ye-seul, manager of the software's global team. We plan further expansion into additional domains based on this.
The service is already available in the United States, Australia and some Southeast Asian countries.
In Indonesia, veterinary hospital owner Kristanya Oen says X Caliber is helping to overcome a lack of expertise and trained staff.
There is a shortage of radiologists in Indonesian animal hospitals and it is not easy to receive radiology education in Indonesia, so we needed X Caliber to help with our diagnostics, Oen told AFP.
SK Telecom is part of the same conglomerate as SK Hynix, which launched the first high-bandwidth memory chips -- cutting-edge semiconductors that enable faster data processing and the more complex tasks of generative AI.
While many experts are questioning the payoff of lavish AI investments following a recent fall in technology stocks, the conglomerate's CEO Chey Tae-won remains committed.
SK Group must think fiercely about next-generation products, he told employees this month.
In June, SK Group announced plans to invest 80 trillion won ($60 billion) in AI chips, services and data centres.
- Pet nation -
In South Korea, where more and more people are turning to pet parenthood instead of having children, it is not necessarily surprising that AI healthcare would begin with animals.
In a country with one of the world's lowest birth rates, pet ownership has roughly doubled in the last decade, official figures show.
One in four households now have at least one furry friend, and last year more strollers were sold for pets than for human babies on popular e-commerce platform, Gmarket.
The pet care industry was worth an estimated eight trillion won ($6 billion) in 2022, a fourfold increase compared with five years earlier.
The government aims to double the industry's value by 2027 and is helping support pet food and healthcare businesses through various loans and tax incentives.
Jumping on the trend, South Korean companies are working on new ways of integrating AI into pet care, including smart toilets for early detection of urinary diseases and smart leashes that monitor pulse and body temperature.
Devices that can monitor mild to severe diseases in the daily life of pets are expected to expand, said Kim Soo-kyung, a senior manager at the Economic Research Institute in KPMG Korea.