AI Technology That Detects Sperm Helps Couple Conceive

After struggling to get pregnant for nearly two decades, a couple is one step closer to parenthood.

CNN reported the couple, who have chosen to remain anonymous, tried multiple rounds of in vitro fertilization, which were unsuccessful because the man suffers from azoospermia, meaning there are either no or trace amounts of sperm in the semen, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The condition impacts about 1% of men.

“What’s remarkable is that instead of the usual [200 million] to 300 million sperm in a typical sample, these patients may have just two or three. Not 2 [million] or 3 million, literally two or three,” Dr. Zev Williams, Columbia University’s Fertility Center Director, told the outlet, describing the search for sperm as “searching for a needle scattered across a thousand haystacks.”

After 18 years of trying to get pregnant, the couple’s luck began to change when researchers studied the man’s semen using AI-assisted STAR technology, or Sperm Tracking and Recovery, per CNN.

“Using cutting-edge AI, high-speed imaging, and robotics, this system can detect and retrieve even the smallest numbers of sperm gently and without harsh chemicals or lasers,” the fertility center’s website says. “STAR gives families new hope for achieving their dreams of parenthood.”

According to TODAY.com, the STAR method takes about 8 million photos in less than one hour to uncover sperm cells and uses AI to sift through them searching for sperm, which get isolated from the sample and stored.

“We kept our hopes to a minimum after so many disappointments,” the woman told CNN.

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Using STAR, experts uncovered three sperm that were later used to help the woman conceive via IVF, the first time the approach has led to a healthy pregnancy, according to the outlet.

“It took me two days to believe I was actually pregnant,” the mom-to-be told CNN. “I still wake up in the morning and can’t believe if this is true or not. I still don’t believe I am pregnant until I see the scans.”

Speaking generally about creating STAR, Dr. Williams explained how the technology can provide an effective boost versus manually searching for the microscopic organisms, offering a new avenue for people struggling to expand their families.

“A patient provided a sample, and highly skilled technicians looked for two days through that sample to try to find sperm. They didn’t find any,” Dr. Williams told CNN. “We brought it to the AI-based STAR System. In one hour, it found 44 sperm. So right then, we realized, ‘Wow, this is really a game-changer. This is going to make such a big difference for patients.’”