Artificial intelligence could help more women get pregnant via IVF
Success rates for couples trying to have a child via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) could be improved courtesy of a growing number of clinics using artificial intelligence (AI).
One in six couples are affected by infertility, with 52,500 people using IVF in 2022.
But the results are not guaranteed and it can take several rounds to have a successful birth – costing would-be parents many thousands of pounds.
Now there’s hope both the odds and the experience of IVF could be improved; thanks to the small but growing number of clinics around the world using artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the process.
At the Avenues Clinic, by Euston station in north London, we’re shown around a lab that the medical director says “has AI integrated into all aspects of its techniques”.
AI helps reveal which is the ‘best grade’ sperm
Dr Jyoti Taneja says AI can be used to select the best sperm, eggs and embryos
Dr Jyoti Taneja says the AI software can tell which sperm, eggs and embryos are healthiest, to be selected for fertilisation and implantation.
As a patient’s sperm sample is surveyed by one of her embryologists, we see individual male gametes appear on the screen circled in green with little letters ‘A,’ ‘B,’ or ‘C.’ This is the AI – she explains – highlighting the ‘best grade’ sperm.
Dr Taneja claims it can save her team hours of work, and will “lead to more successful and healthy outcomes, to minimise miscarriage and other abnormalities”.
Mum-to-be Laura Farrell became pregnant with a little help from AI
After transferring her embryos to the clinic from another practice, mum-to-be Laura Farrell said they used their AI software to select which one to use. She’s now nine-and-a-half weeks pregnant.
For her, the AI use is “fantastic” and she thinks “women should be aware of that when they make their decision about which IVF clinic to go with because there are so many different choices out there”.
Laura proudly holds her scans, she is nine-and-a-half weeks pregnant
But she stresses the difficulties of accessing IVF – from the high cost to policies which bar certain people from accessing it on the NHS – mean there’s a long way to go.
“There is a lot of inequality and there is a lot of discrimination with regards to telling women they are not allowed NHS help even though they have confirmed infertility diagnosis purely on the basis they are a single female”.
Given the cost of a single round, she says if AI means “you can get first-time results, that’s fantastic”. But she said “I think the larger issue here is women being denied help in the first place based on really discriminatory factors, such as just being single”.
Current success rates for IVF are low, and hugely varied by age. In 2022 just a third of women aged 34 and under had a successful birth from IVF when using their own eggs. That dropped to just 5% for women aged between 43 and 44.
It’s too soon to see how – or if – AI has improved the outcomes of women undergoing IVF in this way, but Avenues consultant Ali Al Chami says it’s streamlined the process – without taking over the medical decision-making:
“I look at AI in general as supporting decision making, because at the end of the day it’s our decision as doctors, as embryologists for the final selection of the embryo.
“But when we integrate the AI with the patient history and the treatments, it certainly improves things, and gives more clarity for the patients.”
It’s hoped that as the technology improves, so will the cost and outcomes for parents.
Dr Ali Abbara believes AI can make IVF cheaper and more efficient
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Dr Ali Abbara is a leading consultant at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. He thinks AI has huge potential to ‘transform’ IVF treatment by making it cheaper and more efficient.
But he urges caution, and the need for more data, in the technology’s ‘early days’.
“We need to prove a lot of these things before rolling them out, it’s fine to have a theory that it’s going to help but it’s important to demonstrate that and everything is optimised before we roll it out.”
UK
‘A catastrophic scandal’: Inside the tower block so dangerous residents face being kicked out at any moment
The moment we step into Willow Rise, the smell of damp is overpowering.
There are water stains across the carpet and rotten wood on the doors.
Around the corner, there’s a hole in the wall, barely patched up with a piece of polystyrene sheet.
We’re meeting a resident on the 13th floor of the building in Kirkby, Merseyside – but the lifts are broken and wires hang out of the service panel.
Like everyone living here, we will have to walk.
The disrepair in this block is everywhere you look.
Damp staining and ceiling damage around the block
It has now been deemed so unsafe by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service that they are days away from serving a rare prohibition notice on this tower and its neighbour, Beech Rise, meaning residents will have to leave with immediate effect.
In total, 160 households here face instant homelessness.
After climbing 13 flights of stairs, we meet Chris Penfold-Ivany.
‘A catastrophic scandal’
He has terminal cancer, and after chemotherapy and a liver transplant, that climb is now the only way he can get up to his flat.
Chris Penfold-Ivany warns ‘this is another Grenfell in the making’
He tells us it’s making him breathless. He can no longer get his prescriptions delivered, as the drivers won’t come up all the stairs.
“It’s a catastrophic scandal that we have been left like this,” he says.
He has lived in this flat for 15 years and has watched the block slowly begin to fall apart over the last decade.
He tells us that numerous complaints have achieved nothing. “I’m going to say it,” he says, “this is another Grenfell in the making.”
‘Nobody can live like this‘
A few floors down, Arunee Leerasiri opens the door to us, in floods of tears.
The stress of the last few weeks has left her anxious and overwhelmed. There are boxes everywhere, bare hooks on the walls where pictures hung.
She is packing up her life just three years after putting her life savings into buying this flat.
Arunee Leerasiri says she doesn’t even recognise her flat as her home anymore
Her elderly mother has come to visit, but she had to hire removal men already to take her mattress into storage as she couldn’t manage without the lifts.
Tonight, and until they are told they must leave, they will sleep on the floor.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep,” she tells us, through tears. “Sometimes, if I’m honest, I can’t even think. This used to be my home, and now I look around and I don’t even recognise it.”
“Nobody can live like this,” she adds.
‘Danger, 415 volts’
Water damage around electrical equipment, including a ‘Danger high voltage’ labelled box
She shows us a video she filmed just a few weeks ago, of one of the electrical risers on the ground floor.
None of us can quite believe what we are seeing – water is pouring through the ceiling, directly on to fuse boxes and electrical wiring.
Arunee takes us down to show us the cupboard. The water has now stopped but there are damp stains all over the floor and around the electrical equipment.
The water pipes and electric boxes are just inches away from one another within the cupboard.
One of the boxes, marked ‘Danger, 415 volts’, is rusted through.
Next to it, there is a notice stuck to a resident’s door telling them a leak has been identified in their flat – and as a leaseholder, they will be responsible for paying to fix it.
“Tell me, how is this safe?” Arunee says. “Why is this building allowed to be open for the public, as a dwelling, with this kind of set-up?”
A hole in a wall patched up with polystyrene
Hidden owners and a plea to the government
Merseyside Fire and Rescue tell us they have been serving enforcement notices on the building managers for years, to no avail.
They have now been told there is no money for the millions of pounds worth of repairs that will be needed to bring the blocks up to a safe standard.
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They have mandated a ‘waking watch’, where teams physically patrol the buildings daily to check for fire risks, without which they will serve the prohibition notice and tell residents they must leave straight away.
Knowsley Council has stepped in to pay for this temporarily – at a cost of £3,000 per day.
Their deputy leader tells us, though, that the money will soon run out.
Willow Rise and Beech Rise Towers in Merseyside have both been condemned by the fire service
Where to go?
With a complex management structure and several owners, managers and agents over the years, the council says it doesn’t even know who is to blame for the disrepair – or who even has the legal responsibility for maintaining the buildings.
It says discussions are ongoing with central government about whether any extra help – or money – can be provided to try to fix the mess.
Right now though, all the residents can do is wait.
With no date to leave and no idea if anything can be done to keep the buildings open, they are spending every day fearing the call to tell them they have to go.
They can only hope there will be somewhere for them if they do.
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has reversed his decision to quit the party, saying “the mission is too important” and that he “cannot let people down”.
Instead, he said he will return in a new role, heading up an Elon Musk-inspired “UK DOGE” team.
In a statement, he said: “Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.”
He added: “I know the mission is too important and I cannot let people down.
“So, I will be continuing my work with Reform, my commitment redoubled.”
Mr Yusuf said he would be returning in a new role, seemingly focusing on cuts and efficiency within government.
He said he would “fight for taxpayers”.
Only two days prior, Mr Yusuf dramatically handed in his resignation.
He claimed he no longer thought getting a Reform government elected was a “good use of my time” – but has now seemingly changed his mind.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage welcomed the news of Mr Yusuf’s return.
He said: “I am delighted that Zia Yusuf will head up Reform UK’s DOGE department.”
Nigel Farage welcomed Zia Yusuf’s return. File pic: PA
Read more:
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Reform’s rise forces rethink for SNP
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Mr Yusuf’s initial decision to quit came after he publicly distanced himself from the party’s new MP, Sarah Pochin, when she asked Sir Keir Starmer about banning the burka at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Reform said a ban was not party policy – and the chairman called it a “dumb” thing to ask.
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What is DOGE?
DOGE is a meme-coin inspired creation of Musk’s, standing for the Department of Government Efficiency.
It is the latest right-wing US import into British politics.
Before his public fallout with Donald Trump, the tech billionaire said his focus was saving taxpayers’ money by locating wasteful spending within government and cutting it.
Read more: How Elon Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
However, opposition politicians questioned the impact of his efforts and how much he actually saved.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
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