The hastily scribbled chicken scratch that many doctors call “handwriting,” which has long been the basis for good-natured ribbing as well as cause for genuine concern and confusion in medically dire and/or sensitive situations, is finally being made legible through the power of Google Lens technology. Indeed, Google determined that the best way to address the issue — as is often its wont — is to throw a highly honed algorithm into the mix, in this case training computers to make sense of the poor penmanship.
As reported by TechCrunch, the upcoming feature will be integrated with Google Lens, the search engine powerhouse’s app for image recognition. At the company’s yearly India-based conference, a primitive version of the tech was on full display, where it was highlighted for its AI-based programming that was constructed with input from panels of pharmacists.
In terms of functionality, the program will begin to work its magic with a simple cell phone picture of a handwritten doctor’s note, first scanning for any medicines listed in an effort to get a handle on the specific writer’s shorthand by assessing their writing of more complicated language and uncommon letter combinations.
As of now, no ultimate medical decision will be permitted to be handed down directly by the tech. Instead, a human pharmacist will evaluate the algorithm’s result and give a determination accordingly.
