WalMart Testing Out AI Eye Exams

AI seems to be making inroads into more and more places where you'd think a human touch or judgment call would be needed.

Oh boy.  What now?

In Pennsylvania, WalMart and Sam's Club are testing out kiosks from a company called "Eyebot" that can reportedly perform an eye exam in 15 minutes.  And honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

How so?

On one hand, I fully understand what they hope to accomplish and why.  Like a lot of medical professions, there is a noted lack of optometrists in rural areas.  These kiosks, if rolled out nation-wide, may very well be the closest many people living in such areas will ever get to a regular eye exam.  So yes, this is an improvement, because it's better than not having the option at all.

On the other hand, these kiosks aren't a replacement for a visit to an actual optometrist or ophthalmologist.  The kiosk is only meant for figuring out the prescription you need for glasses or contacts, which it then passes to an optometrist.  From what's been said so far, they don't do anything else, so for things like glaucoma, cataracts, or any other eye health issues, you'd still need to see an actual human.

So will these see deployment at WalMarts and Sam's Clubs nation-wide?  That remains to be seen (pun intended).  Personally, until I see more information about how accurate these things really are with regards to getting the prescription right, I'll keep going to my optometrist.