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.