Svitlana Yashchenok: Who Is Really Choosing Your Embryo?
Svitlana Yashchenok, Practice Manager at Reproductive Health Medical Centre LADA, shared on LinkedIn:
“Who is really choosing your embryo: a doctor or code written eight years ago? And can anyone actually explain the AI’s logic behind that selection?
Here’s what most people don’t know: the world’s first AI embryo-selection technology was developed in Australia. A small Adelaide team built it in 2016. In trials, it identified viable embryos 30% more accurately than experienced embryologists.
In 2024, the company sold that technology to a Japanese buyer. Most patients using AI-scored embryo selection today have no idea whose algorithm is actually deciding.
That’s the real problem. Not whether AI works – but whether anyone can explain why it made the choice it made.
Researchers call this the ‘black box’ problem. An algorithm looks at your embryo, gives it a score, and nobody can tell you exactly why. Scientists are now pushing for ‘glass-box AI’: models built so a human can see and explain the reasoning, not just trust the number.
This isn’t abstract for patients. It’s the feeling of not knowing what’s happening to your own cells – an algorithm making the most important decision of your treatment, and nobody able to explain it.
Australia built the technology that started this shift. Now it faces the question every fertility market will eventually face: AI can outperform a trained eye. But if nobody can explain its reasoning, is that really progress – or just a faster black box?”
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