An international team, including researchers from Google Health and Imperial College London, designed and trained a computer model on X-ray images from nearly 29,000 women. The algorithm outperformed six radiologists in reading mammograms. AI was still as good as two doctors working together.

If the system is implemented across the NHS at least one radiologist would remain in charge of diagnosis but AI could largely do away with the need for dual reading of mammograms by two doctors, easing pressure on their workload, say researchers.

The current system in the NHS uses two radiologists to analyse each woman's X-rays. In rare cases where they disagree, a third doctor assesses the images.

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