One in six couples worldwide are infertile. However, less than 2% are able to access the care they need. To those who are, it takes them on average over three years just to get a diagnosis. And over two years of treatment. That treatment is mostly trial and error.

And their chances of having a baby will remain around 30%. And did you know that this is a global problem? Fertility rates are declining and are now below replacement rate. And it's a global problem with significant consequences to individuals, but also to societies and economies.

But the reality is, even if governments wanted to make fertility care accessible for all, hospitals and clinics would not be able to respond to the demand. Because we simply do not have enough doctors, nurses, embryologists, or even the facilities and the processes to respond to that demand and treat the 98% who still need our help.

How can everyone around the world access the diagnosis and treatment they need? You see, our bodies are highly complex. There are many factors that can affect fertility, many possible diagnoses, many possible treatments. And the same patient being checked by different doctors will be given different treatment pathways.

But why does this happen? Healthcare professionals are limited by their brains in their capacity to process and analyse an ever-growing amount of information. In medical school, doctors are taught, if you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras. As zebras are much rarer than horses, doctors are being taught to think about the most likely scenario first. And ultimately, healthcare professionals learn to identify the most likely patterns, the horses, based on our knowledge and experience.

So, if I have seen 100 patients with the same problem, start to understand how to treat them. However, if a patient presents with a very unique problem, it is very challenging to come up with a diagnosis or suggest treatment with a high degree of certainty.

But how different would it be if doctors had access to superpowers and could tell us exactly what is the diagnosis, what is the treatment, and just get rid of the trial and error? I dream of a world where that is possible, where everyone can access the diagnosis and treatment, they need to grow their families when they want it. Maybe artificial intelligence can help us get there. When I'm talking about artificial intelligence, we are not talking about science fiction. We are also not talking about making babies in space. And we are definitely not talking about robots taking our jobs. We are talking about something so much easier to comprehend.

Just like Netflix recommends which shows to watch based on your preferences or past behaviours, or just like Google Maps recommends the route to take, the same technologies can be applied to reproductive medicine. And what is really interesting is that artificial intelligence can do a specific task. In this case, what is the diagnosis or what is the treatment most likely to result in a baby? So much better and faster than a human being. It's about empowering healthcare professionals with the knowledge and experience that would take them more than a lifetime to develop. So artificial intelligence is really about giving doctors the superpowers to diagnose accurately and treat accordingly. And can I tell you a secret? Some of this already exists.

Using computer vision algorithms, it is already possible to check eggs, sperm and embryos. And for an embryologist, instead of them looking down a microscope and making a one-moment-in-time decision, they can rely on artificial intelligence to identify the shapes, the movements and the patterns over time to make a more balanced decision. And by choosing the best eggs, best sperm, best embryo, they are already improving the chances of having a baby.

But would it surprise you that it takes more than a good egg and a good sperm to make a baby? What if we bring artificial intelligence into the consultation room where we can analyse vast amounts of data from your clinical history, your test results, but also your genetics, your lifestyle, your nutrition, all the factors that ultimately impact the quality of the eggs and sperm that do end up in the lab, the capacity of these to become an embryo and the ability of this embryo to evolve into a baby? Artificial intelligence helps us identify these patterns that our human brains just cannot see. In a blink of an eye, it helps us rule out things that just aren't important and improve a diagnosis. It helps us test different drugs, dosages and timings to treat certain conditions.

And we are starting to predict outcomes, checking which treatment protocol is more likely to result in a live birth. Ultimately, we will be able to check exactly what treatment has worked for thousands of patients just like you. In the near future, artificial intelligence will allow us to discover new conditions that up to now remain undiagnosed. Discover new medicines to treat infertility problems that up to now remain chronic like polycystic ovarian syndrome or endometriosis. In the near future, we will be able to integrate several AI systems from patient intake to diagnosis to treatment. And in that moment, imagine any clinician, regardless of experience, they will be able to confirm a diagnosis and start data-driven treatment.

Bangalore’s top IVF training institution - Medline Academics, offers both Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine and Fellowship in Embryology, besides multiple other reproductive medicine courses. The best part about these online infertility courses is their format of the training. Since, the fellowship programs are affiliated with a PAN India recognised university, the authenticity of these courses is never to be doubted. The curriculum for the Fellowship in Embryology in India is designed by expert faculty in this field. Besides, AI in ART and Clinical Embryology is an important topic in these courses which gives you a complete idea of how it is going to rule the future of reproductive medicine in India.

The clinical wing of Medline Academics – Dr. Kamini Rao Hospitals (IVF Hospital in Bangalore) is trying to implement the available sources of AI in the existing centres and setup for the patient’s convenience regardless of where they are in the world. They will be able to be tested remotely, diagnosed faster and start appropriate treatment.

How different will it be for a 17-year-old girl like me when doctors have access to those superpowers? Because it shouldn't take three years just to have a diagnosis. And it shouldn't be treatment by trial and error. It certainly shouldn't be seven years to have a baby. Because time, time matters when trying to conceive. And infertility is so much more than not being able to have children.

It is a global problem. And care shouldn't be a privilege available only to a few. We dream of a day when everyone can access the diagnosis and treatment they need. Maybe that day is already around the corner.