The AI that spots a silent killer

Zhu going over CT scans of Qiu, whose pancreatic cancer was detected at an early stage via a new AI-powered tool at the Affiliated People’s Hospital of Ningbo University, in Ningbo. — Andrea Verdelli/The New York Times

THREE days after Qiu Sijun, a retired bricklayer in eastern China, went for a routine diabetes check-up, he received an unexpected call from a doctor he had never met.

The doctor, head of the hospital’s pancreatic department, asked him to return for further tests.