South Korean animal care goes high-tech with AI diagnostics

YONGIN, South Korea (AFP-Jiji) — When five-year-old goldendoodle Mozzi started walking “unnaturally,” his concerned owner rushed him to a vet in South Korea, where the problem was diagnosed not by humans but by artificial intelligence.

South Korea, a world leader in the production of chips that power generative AI, has been quick to embrace new applications of the technology.

One such application, “X Caliber”, helps veterinarians to locate X-ray abnormalities within seconds, making diagnosis both faster and easier to explain.

The AI ​​reading of Mozzi’s x-rays showed that the curly-haired goldendoodle had a 22 percent chance of a knee dislocation. Although not an emergency, his condition required careful management to avoid surgery.

“I wouldn’t have understood the results if I hadn’t looked at the numbers,” said Mo Jae-hyun, Mozzi’s owner, who added that the AI ​​program helped him understand his pet’s problems.

“Of course I trust my vet, but when I look at the results myself, it seems more credible.”

According to the software’s developer, South Korean telecom provider SK Telecom, X Caliber has a disease detection rate of as high as 86%.

Veterinarians say it has transformed their diagnostic options.

“For example, dogs with heart disease often have enlarged hearts. We use a method called VHS (vertebral heart size), which previously required manual measurements one by one,” Oh I-se, CEO of Sky Animal Medical Group, told AFP.

But now AI can reveal the result within 15 seconds, so it’s “much more convenient,” Oh said.

Global Goals

SK Telecom sees X Caliber as “the beginning of AI healthcare,” said Joo Ye-seul, manager of the software’s global team. “We plan to expand into additional domains based on this.”

The service is already available in the United States, Australia and some countries in Southeast Asia.

Kristanya Oen, owner of an animal hospital in Indonesia, says X Caliber helps solve the lack of expertise and qualified staff.

“There is a shortage of radiologists in Indonesian veterinary hospitals and it is not easy to get radiology training in Indonesia, so we needed X Caliber to help with our diagnostics,” Oen told AFP.

SK Telecom is part of the same conglomerate as SK Hynix, which launched the first high-bandwidth memory chips: advanced semiconductors that enable faster data processing and the more complex tasks of generative AI.

While many experts question whether large-scale investments in AI are profitable after the recent decline in tech stocks, the conglomerate’s CEO Chey Tae-won remains convinced he is right.

SK Group needs to “think strongly about next-generation products,” he told employees last month.

In June, SK Group announced plans to invest 80 trillion won (US$60 billion) in AI chips, services and data centers.

Pet nation

In South Korea, where more and more people are turning to “pet parenting” instead of having children, it’s not necessarily surprising that AI healthcare would start with animals.

In a country with one of the lowest birth rates in the world, the number of pet owners has roughly doubled in the past decade, official figures show.

Today, one in four households has at least one furry friend, and last year more pet strollers were sold on popular e-commerce platform Gmarket than ones for human babies.

The pet care industry was valued at 8 trillion won (US$6 billion) in 2022, a fourfold increase from five years earlier.

The government wants to double the value of the sector by 2027 and is supporting companies in the animal feed and healthcare sectors with various loans and tax benefits.

South Korean companies are jumping on the trend and working on new ways to integrate AI into pet care, including “smart toilets” for early detection of urinary tract diseases and “smart leashes” that monitor heart rate and body temperature.

“Devices that can monitor mild to severe illnesses in pets’ daily lives are expected to increase,” said Kim Soo-kyung, senior manager at KPMG Korea’s Economic Research Institute.