I was intrigued by the following fertility-related news item this morning: “World’s first baby born by remote-controlled automated IVF.” Remote-controlled, what? During ICSI, New York doctors and engineers actually remotely operated a robot in a Mexican laboratory. Not only that, but the researchers also employed artificial intelligence (AI) to help with the embryo and sperm selection process. The resultant child has now been born in good health. Doesn’t that sound a little daring?
Remote-controlled artificial insemination – how does it work?
“Intracytoplasmic sperm injection” is what ICSI stands for. This entails using a tiny pipette to deliver a sperm straight into the egg cell. As the publication “Reproductive BioMedicine Online” reported along with the study’s findings, this is exactly what a robot has done in automated processes.
The researchers have developed a system that can automatically perform a total of 23 steps of ICSI. Each step is monitored by experts via remote control to ensure safety and accuracy.
Sperm and embryos are selected by artificial intelligence
The 23 steps also include sperm selection. An AI determines which sperm, based on its shape, is best suited to fertilize the egg . The resulting embryos are also evaluated using artificial intelligence – and the best ones are selected.
At least the egg retrieval and embryo transfer in this experiment were still carried out using the conventional method – without robots or AI. The embryo was then implanted into a 40-year-old woman , who has now given birth to a healthy baby in the 38th week of pregnancy .
The researchers speak of a “breakthrough”
For scientists and doctors, the study’s results represent a ” breakthrough in the field of assisted reproduction .” Automation could reduce human errors and increase success rates .
This is how the study went
For the study, the physicians fertilized a total of five donated eggs using the automated ISCI and, as a control, three more by hand as usual. The results showed that 4 out of 5 eggs were successfully fertilized using the automated method, while 3 out of 3 eggs were successfully fertilized using the manual method. In each of the two groups, two blastocysts were produced that would have been suitable for embryo transfer.
Although the woman did not become pregnant after the first transfer of an embryo from the automated group, a further attempt ultimately resulted in her now holding a healthy baby in her arms.
Even though the automated method takes significantly longer, the researchers consider the result a milestone.
To be honest, I find this kind of creepy.
I have to admit that I find the topic very exciting – but also somewhat scary. While I have no personal experience with artificial insemination, I still imagine the topic to be very emotional. The idea of an AI selecting the sperm and embryo, and the whole process being carried out by a robot, still sounds a bit (too) like science fiction to me at the moment – very clinically sterile and not very emotional.
On the other hand, the topic of AI is gaining more and more importance in leaps and bounds. And if it can help moms and dads fulfill their desire to have children and actually increase the chances of success at some point, that is of course a good thing.
