Story perspectives

Teen Builds Retina AI Diagnosing Autism, ADHD at 89% Accuracy

7/17/2026

Summary

Story summary

Edward Kang, a 17-year-old student, built the RetinaMind AI tool that diagnoses autism and ADHD from retinal images with about 89 % accuracy.
The system produces heat-map visualizations with GradCAM that highlight retinal regions driving the diagnosis and links the ABCA4 gene to autism-related retinal differences.
Pediatrician Paul Lipkin cautioned that retinal patterns may reflect broader brain conditions and that the model currently offers only a blanket autism or ADHD diagnosis.

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Story summary

Edward Kang, a 17-year-old student, built the RetinaMind AI tool that diagnoses autism and ADHD from retinal images with about 89 % accuracy.
The system produces heat-map visualizations with GradCAM that highlight retinal regions driving the diagnosis and links the ABCA4 gene to autism-related retinal differences.
Pediatrician Paul Lipkin cautioned that retinal patterns may reflect broader brain conditions and that the model currently offers only a blanket autism or ADHD diagnosis.