AI fulfills couple's wish of a baby after 18 years by detecting 3 lone sperm in man's semen

Artificial Intelligence has helped a couple welcome a baby after 18 years of trying to conceive naturally and through IVF. They visited several IVF clinics and underwent treatment, but nothing helped. Artificial fertilisation involves extracting the egg from the woman and sperm from the man and combining the two in the lab. However, in this case, the man was suffering from a condition that did not let his wife get pregnant. Azoospermia happens when there is no measurable sperm present in semen. It is found in about 1 per cent of infertile men. A typical semen sample contains several million sperm. But, in this man's case, doctors could not find even a single sperm. This became a problem in IVF as there was no semen to mix with the egg. After waiting for 18 years, they decided to give a shot to a new method of fertilisation. Also Read: ‘ChatGPT ‘hallucinates’, don’t overrely on it,’ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warns users

The man's semen sample had only three sperm

The Columbia University Fertility Center had come up with the STAR method, or Sperm Track and Recovery. It uses AI to detect sperm in the semen. The couple, which has remained anonymous, went in with little hope after facing several disappointments. However, it was a success. The method was able to find only three sperm in the sample of semen submitted by the man. The woman is not pregnant and is expecting to deliver in December. She still cannot believe that after years of waiting, they are finally welcoming a baby, she told CNN. Also Read: 'Jennifer Aniston' told a man she 'loved him' and asked for Apple gift cards. It was an elaborate scam

The STAR method is a breakthrough in the field of male infertility. In the US, medical facilities are now using AI to scan for sperm and detect healthy embryos and viable eggs for IVF. Dr. Zev Williams, director of the Columbia University Fertility Center, is behind the AI tech that can change the game for male infertility. Williams and his team took five years to develop the technology. He says they were amazed to see the initial results. He said a technician scanned a semen sample for two days to look for sperm, but couldn't find any. But when STAR analysed it, 44 sperm were detected in an hour.

The STAR method uses a fluidic chip to scan semen for sperm. It connects to the microscope through a high-speed camera and high-powered imaging technology. Once it identifies the sperm, it isolates the sperm cell which can then be used for IVF or frozen for future use, Williams told TIME. He added that a typical semen sample contains 200 to 300 million sperm. But in some men, there are only two or three. The use of AI in STAR helps detect them to fertilise an egg and help couples have babies.