Doctors Use AI to Detect ‘Hidden’ Fertility in Men

An artificial intelligence developed at Columbia University is helping doctors find sperm cells in men who were previously told they were sterile, opening up a new avenue of fertility for some couples, according to a report and BBC.

The method, called Star, short for Sperm Track and Recovery, developed and Columbia University Fertility Center, uses artificial intelligence to analyze sperm or tissues to find rare sperm cells that laboratory methods often miss. This procedure may allow some men who were previously thought to be infertile to use their sperm for treatment.

Azoospermia, as the method controls, means that no sperm can be detected in a man’s semen using a standard test. It affects about 10% of infertile men and about 1% of all men, according to the BBC.

First announced in 2025, Stars combining photography, AI, and robotics to explore sperm. Samples flow through tiny chips with channels as thin as a human hair that guide the fluid in a controlled manner. As the sample passes, the scanner takes approximately 300 images per second. Machine learning, a type of AI trained in pattern recognition, analyzes the images in real time to identify sperm among the debris and other cells.

Researchers said the robot separates sperm within milliseconds, avoiding centrifugation, a spinning process that can destroy fragile cells. Doctors can use sperm in vitro insemination, or IVF, when the egg is fertilized outside the body.

The news comes as doctors and researchers are expanding the use of AI in medicine. In April, OpenAI he said A version of ChatGPT designed for therapists has succeeded human doctors in some medical tasks, while Mayo Clinic researchers report a type of AI that can detect pancreatic cancer years earlier than doctors by detecting subtle changes in routine scans.

Zev Williams, director of the Columbia University Fertility Center, said the method found sperm in less than 30% of patients tested. These patients had already been told that they had no chance of producing sperm for use. He said the method identified sperm 40 times better than manual testing by trained experts, achieving 100% sensitivity.

“Everybody was jumping for joy,” Williams told reporters BBC. “There are few things where the reward for all the effort put into it is something as wonderful and special as this. Now there is a daughter and hopefully, God willing, many, many more.”

First of all pregnancy The use of the Star method was confirmed in 2025 and involved a couple known as Samuel and Penelope, who have been trying to conceive for more than two years. Samuel was diagnosed with Klinefelter’s disease, a condition in which men are born with an extra X chromosome that often results in little or no sperm.

“It’s starting to feel real now, mostly because I can feel the movement,” Penelope said BBC. “We had our look, and everything looks great.”