WASHINGTON — Chinese social media users are not impressed by the newly released AI model Grok 3 by Elon Musk’s xAI, retaining their preference and support for DeepSeek, the free China-made AI model that rivals leading Western competitors while costing significantly less to train.
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WASHINGTON — A German study shows that the cancer detection rate improves by almost 18% when doctors get help from artificial intelligence.
For the study, radiologists — doctors who analyze the results of mammograms and other diagnostic tests — used artificial intelligence to examine the mammograms of more than 460,000 German women between the ages of 50 and 69. They found one more cancer for every 1,000 women than humans alone did, according to researchers. It was the largest real-world exploration to date into the use of AI to help detect breast cancer.
“The breast cancer detection rate is better, and this is really strong evidence,” said Dr. Alexander Katalinic, of the University of Lubeck in Germany, who was the study’s principal investigator. “And based on this evidence, we should start to use more AI in breast cancer screening, and in the end, this should be standard.”
The mammograms of 463,094 German women were examined between July 2021 and February 2023. About half were reviewed by two radiologists, which is standard procedure in Germany. In just over half of the cases, the humans were assisted by AI. When AI was involved, the breast cancer detection rate was 6.7 per 1,000 women, compared to 5.7 per 1,000 women screened solely by humans.
“AI really is suitable for replacing human readers to a certain extent,” Katalinic said. “But how far do you want to go? This is not only a question of science, it’s also a social question. How is the society’s trust in AI?”
The study found that AI also helped reduce the number of false positive results. Artificial intelligence, however, did miss some cancers.
“The AI is not perfect in the same way that the humans are not perfect,” said Stefan Bunk, cofounder of Vara, a health care technology company in Berlin that developed the artificial intelligence used in the study. “There were 20 cases in our study where the AI said this case is normal but actually a radiologist found cancer.”
Humans, however, missed a malignancy 10 times more than the AI, according to the study results.
“AI, unlike humans, doesn’t get tired, right?” Bunk said. “AI works in the same way at 2 a.m. in the morning like in the middle of the day. So, it’s definitely an advantage, and it’s also one of the reasons why I think AI finds cancers that otherwise humans would miss.”
AI could help reduce the workload for radiologists, freeing them to focus on more complex cases, according to Bunk, who added that increasing reliance on AI could lead to the risk of losing human expertise over time.
“Those complex cases — those cases where you need to take into account multiple angles, where you need to talk to the patient, right — is something where expertise and an actual radiologist is very important and should continue to be trained,” Bunk said.
Dr. Wei Yang, a professor in breast radiology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, believes increased use of AI could energize radiologists.
“I think that the advent of AI is an opportunity and a trigger for us to become more excited about our field so that highly trained radiologists will have the open space, the time and the concentration to focus on more complex tasks,” Yang said.
Using a human radiologist along with artificial intelligence offers the best of both worlds, according to Katalinic.
“The combination of a human together with AI is much better than only having the human reading,” he said.
Yang, who was not involved in the study, is encouraged by the results.
“The data is very compelling,” she said. “The increased cancer detection rate, the reduction in the false positive callbacks and the potential impact this can have on the workforce and burnout. So overall, very, very positive.”
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A recent study found doctors were able to detect breast cancer more often when they used artificial intelligence to help read mammogram results. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, AI helped boost the breast cancer detection rate by more than 17%.
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Measles is making a comeback in the United States.
Fifty-eight cases of the highly contagious disease were reported Tuesday by health officials in rural West Texas, while eight cases were confirmed in neighboring eastern New Mexico.
Texas officials say the outbreak there, the largest in almost 30 years, is mainly confined to Gaines County, with 45 infections, but four other counties account for an additional 13 cases.
The Texas measles cases, according to health officials, have occurred mainly among a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community.
Authorities say at least three of the New Mexico cases are in counties that border Texas’ Gaines County.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 14 measles cases across the country.
Mayo Clinic describes measles as “a childhood infection caused by a virus. Once quite common, measles can now almost always be prevented with a vaccine … measles spreads easily and can be serious, and even fatal, for small children.”
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for two hours. As many as nine out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the CDC.
However, in recent years, the necessity and safety of the vaccinations designed to prevent the disease have come under question, with some parents citing a now-discredited study that linked the measles vaccine to autism.
Another unfortunate development in the fight against measles happened during the COVID-19 pandemic when many children missed their vaccinations. Los Angeles Cedars Sinai said in a statement in February 2024 that 61 million fewer doses of the measles vaccine were distributed nationwide from 2020 to 2022.
Before the MMR vaccination, which addresses not only measles, but also mumps and rubella, was introduced in the U.S. in 1963, there were 3 million to 4 million measles cases every year.
Now there are usually fewer than 200 cases per year, but pockets of measles persist in areas that still resist the vaccinations. The shots are first given to toddlers between 12 and 15 months and then again at 4 to 6 years of age.
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WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to study how to expand access to in vitro fertilization and make it more affordable.
The order calls for policy recommendations to “protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments,” according to the White House. On the campaign trail, Trump called for universal coverage of IVF treatment after his Supreme Court nominees helped to overturn Roe v. Wade, leading to a wave of restrictions in Republican-led states, including some that have threatened access to IVF by trying to define life as beginning at conception.
Trump, who was at his Florida residence and club Mar-a-Lago, also signed another executive order and a presidential memorandum. The second executive order outlined the oversight functions of the Office of Management and Budget, while the presidential memorandum called for more transparency from the government, according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf, who Trump called to the podium to detail the orders.
The order called for “radical transparency requirements” for the government, requiring it to detail the “waste, fraud and abuse” that’s found as the Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by Elon Musk, looks to cut government spending.
DOGE has often fallen short of the administration’s promises of transparency. Musk has taken questions from journalists only once since becoming Trump’s most powerful adviser, and he’s claimed it’s illegal to name people who are working for him. Sometimes DOGE staff members have demanded access to sensitive government databases with little explanation.
According to a fact sheet provided by the White House, Trump’s IVF order will focus on prioritizing whether there are any current policies “that exacerbate the cost of IVF treatments.”
Last year, Trump declared public support for IVF after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. The decision, which some Republicans and conservatives cheered, touched off immediate backlash.
Families ‘appreciative,’ says Trump
On the campaign trail, IVF quickly became a talking point for Trump, who said he strongly supports its availability.
In vitro fertilization offers a possible solution when a woman has trouble getting pregnant. The procedure involves retrieving her eggs and combining them in a lab dish with a man’s sperm to create a fertilized embryo, which is then transferred into the woman’s uterus in an attempt to create a pregnancy. IVF is done in cycles, and more than one may be required.
“I think the women and families, husbands, are very appreciative of it,” Trump said in brief remarks on the order, before he took questions on a variety of topics.
Trump, who spent the morning at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, spoke to reporters hours before his first joint TV interview with adviser Elon Musk airs in prime time.
Trump and Musk gave their first joint interview to Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel. The interview was taped on Friday at the White House and is set to air as Musk leads Trump’s effort to cut federal spending and slash the federal workforce.
Musk has drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress and others for the methods he and his team at DOGE are using to cut spending, including foreign aid, and eliminate jobs across the bureaucracy.
The Fox News interview also follows Musk’s appearance with Trump in the Oval Office last week, when both defended Musk’s approach to federal cost-cutting.
In an excerpt from the interview that Fox News released on Sunday, Musk said he “used to be adored by the left” but “less so these days” because of the work he’s doing at Trump’s direction.
“They call it Trump derangement syndrome. You don’t realize how real this is until you can’t reason with people,” Musk said, adding that normal conversations with Democrats about the president are difficult because “it’s like they’ve become completely irrational.”
Event celebrates ‘American Exceptionalism’
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club is the setting Tuesday night for an awards program by America’s Future, a conservative group led by Mike Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser in the Republican president’s first term. The program aims to preserve individual rights and promote American values and traditions, according to its website. The event, called Celebrate American Exceptionalism 2025, will honor one member from the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force and the Space Force.
The event includes a poolside reception, musical performances and dinner in Mar-a-Lago’s Grand Ballroom, where other award presentations are expected from a lineup that includes such names as comedian Russell Brand, singer Ted Nugent and former pro boxer Mike Tyson.
It’s unclear whether Trump will participate in the event.
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