An artificial intelligence translation tool will be integrated into Google Lens, helping users translate messy handwritten notes such as prescriptions.
Google is collaborating with pharmacists to create an AI model capable of reading the often illegible handwriting seen in prescriptions or doctor’s notes. The company showcased this feature at its annual conference in India on December 19.
Messy handwritten prescriptions will be addressed by Google’s new tool. (Photo: PA).
In the introduction, users can take a photo of their prescription or upload a previously taken image to the processing tool. Any medication included in the notes will be recognized. However, Dr. Manish Gupta, Director of Research at Google India, stated, “There is still a lot of work to be done before the system is ready for the real world.”
Google has not yet set a specific official launch date. This feature is expected to become part of Google Lens — Google’s AI tool that can translate languages and recognize various objects, available in Google’s search bar.
“The tool will function as a technology to assist in digitizing handwritten medical documents for professionals in the field, such as pharmacists. However, no decisions will be made solely based on the results provided by this technology,” Google mentioned on its blog.
Time cited a 2006 study from the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, suggesting that doctors’ handwriting can lead to serious consequences for patients. At that time, the messy handwriting of doctors was estimated to cause over 7,000 deaths annually and more than 1.5 million Americans being harmed due to medication errors.
However, a 1996 study published in the National Library of Medicine showed that doctors’ handwriting is not worse than that of non-doctors.
“This study does not support the common belief that doctors have worse handwriting than others,” the authors concluded. But they acknowledged that illegible handwriting is a significant cause of waste and danger in healthcare.
