TOKYO: The Cabinet Office and other organizations in Japan have said that they will embark on a joint project to develop an artificial intelligence-based system to help doctors diagnose diseases.

They hope that the system will be used to detect signs of deterioration in patients' health conditions through the analysis of X-ray images and a massive amount of data, including laboratory results, electrocardiogram and blood pressure.

A platform allowing medical workers to access a variety of AI technologies will be built, according to their announcement Wednesday.

The institutions plan to test the system from as early as this autumn, aiming to put it into practical use in 2022.

The system will "enable the provision of more patient-friendly medical services" as it can reduce the burdens of medical personnel, Yusuke Nakamura, who leads the project, said.

Other participants are the Japan Medical Association, which will access the quality of AI, and five private-sector firms--Nihon Unisys Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., IBM Japan Ltd., SoftBank Corp. and Mitsui & Co.

JIJI Press