The IVF Industry Has Been Guessing For Decades. AI Just Called It Out!

AI Handoff Insider

Handoff #6 (Insider Edition) | Reading time: 4 minutes

Reproductive healthcare has always been filled with guesswork. And when you're the one going through it—physically, emotionally, financially—"guessing" isn't good enough.

Artificial Intelligence is changing that. And whether you’re going through IVF, supporting someone who is, or just curious about how AI is actually improving lives, this matters.

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Stop relying on best guesses. Start making the best decisions.

For decades, fertility specialists have used rules of thumb: trigger ovulation when a few big follicles hit 18mm.

But in a study of over 19,000 IVF cycles across Europe, AI revealed something doctors were missing:

It’s not the biggest follicles that matter most. It’s the 13–18mm ones.

These “middle-sized” follicles were the real predictors of successful egg retrieval and live birth.

AI doesn’t just help collect eggs. It helps collect the right ones, at the right time.

This kind of precision medicine is what AI is unlocking across the board, not just in fertility care.

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Choosing the right embryo used to be a guessing game, too.

Embryologists once relied on subjective judgment to grade embryos by appearance and timing.

AI changes the game.

Tools like Life Whisperer and DeepEmbryo analyse thousands of embryo images to predict which ones are most likely to lead to pregnancy.

One AI system boosted accuracy by 25% over human experts. Another hit 75% accuracy, compared to embryologists' 60%.

It’s a real-world example of how AI can outperform human guesswork, and why it has the potential to improve outcomes in countless other areas of care.

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Personalised treatment isn’t a luxury. It’s becoming the new standard.

From hormone doses to trigger timing, AI is personalising treatment plans based on each patient's specific biology.

In a U.S. clinical study, AI-led protocols resulted in more mature eggs, less medication use, and no added risk.

This is precision at work. It’s what AI does best. And it’s a model being explored in everything from cancer care to chronic disease management.

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This isn’t theoretical. It’s already working in real clinics.

In Nanjing, China, AI-assisted embryo selection led to a jump in implantation rates from 68% to 81%.

Clinics in the UK, Poland, the U.S., and Australia are already integrating AI tools into practice. Clinical trials are underway.

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But what about autonomy? Control? Consent?

This is where it matters most.