An artificial intelligence tool developed in Israel to help improve outcomes for patients undergoing fertility treatment is now being used in three London clinics.

Named “Chloe” - short for Cultivating Human Life through Optimal Embryos - the tool uses time-lapse imagery to determine the likelihood of an embryo becoming a viable pregnancy, with the data helping embryologists making clinical decisions during in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment. 

The time-lapse incubator, which houses the developing embryos, takes pictures of the embryo every 10 minutes as it is developing, from day zero, to day five or six. The software, developed by Tel Aviv-based tech firm Fairtility, is integrated with the incubator, analysing the image data in real time to assess embryo quality and viability.

Professor Assaf Ben Meir, director of the fertility and IVF unit at Hadassah Medical Centre and chief medical officer and co-founder of Fairtility, said: "Chloe detects biomarkers that humans are unable to detect, identifies these features and analyses them to determine embryo quality.

The tool, he said: "provides consistent and unbiased insights previously unavailable that embryologists and physicians can use to make more informed decisions and offer transparency to prospective parents on their embryos".

Chloe is being used by clinicians at IVF London, the Harley Street Fertility Clinic, and the Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health, and by practices in Spain, Turkey, Greece and Norway.

"Implementing AI technologies entering the IVF space challenges traditional norms and drives innovation forward for the entire industry," said Suzanne Cawood, director of embryology at CRGH.

“Fairtility's AI makes IVF more efficient and accessible to the growing population of people seeking fertility treatment."

One in six people worldwide experiences infertility in their reproductive years, according to the World Health Organisation.