Using AI to take microscopy to the next level

For centuries, scientists have used microscopes to magnify and peer into a world invisible to the naked eye. The earliest instruments were simple lens-filled tubes, the best of which revealed the existence of single-celled organisms. Over the years, new technologies—from incorporating pinholes into light paths to gene editing samples for fluorescence expression—have allowed researchers to push the bounds of light microscopy. Each development has brought about new discoveries across multiple fields of research. Now, as computers become more powerful, artificial intelligence may be the next technological advance to come to microscopy. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is an umbrella term that generally refers to a machine’s ability to imitate or surpass human capabilities for completing certain analytical tasks. In practice, AI today is often implemented with machine learning programs that use artificial neural networks to mimic how a brain functions. This allows the algorithm to learn patterns within data rather than