Artificial intelligence and deep learning in ophthalmology: Current status and future perspectives

BACKGROUND: The ophthalmology field was among the first to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine. The availability of digitized ocular images and substantial data have made deep learning (DL) a popular topic. MAIN TEXT: At the moment, AI in ophthalmology is mostly used to improve disease diagnosis and assist decision-making aiming at ophthalmic diseases like diabetic retinopathy (DR), glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataract and other anterior segment diseases. However, most of the AI systems developed to date are still in the experimental stages, with only a few having achieved clinical applications. There are a number of reasons for this phenomenon, including security, privacy, poor pervasiveness, trust and explainability concerns. CONCLUSIONS: This review summarizes AI applications in ophthalmology, highlighting significant clinical considerations for adopting AI techniques and discussing the potential challenges and future directions.