Chinese scientists create AI nanny to look after embryos in artificial womb

Researchers in Suzhou have developed an AI system able to monitor and take care of embryos as they grow into fetuses in the lab

Technology won’t be a problem for its future application, but legal and ethical concerns might, warns Beijing-based researcher

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

The technology could help solve some major reproductive problems for humans, say researchers behind project. Photo: Shutterstock

Stephen Chen

Published: 6:00am, 31 Jan 2022Updated: 4:35pm, 10 Feb 2022

Corrected [4:26pm, 10 Feb, 2022]

[4:26pm, 10 Feb, 2022]
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the technology developed by the researchers in Suzhou could eliminate the need for a woman to carry a fetus outside the body.
Instead, the researchers say, it could help resolve a number of reproductive problems.

An artificial womb for fetuses to safely grow in, and a robotic nanny to monitor and take care of them.

All within the realm of possibility, say Chinese scientists, in what could be a breakthrough for the future of childbearing in a country facing its lowest birth rates in decades.

That is, once the law allows the use of such technology.

Researchers in Suzhou, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, say they have developed an artificial intelligence system that can monitor and take care of embryos as they grow into fetuses in an artificial womb environment.

This AI nanny is looking after a large number of animal embryos for now, they said in findings published in the domestic peer-reviewed Journal of Biomedical Engineering last month.

But the same technology could help solve some major reproductive problems for humans, the paper says.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x