Artificial Intelligence in Pediatric Endoscopy: Current Status and Future Applications

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) has great promise for improving pediatric endoscopy. The majority of preclinical studies have been undertaken in adults, with the greatest progress being made in the context of colorectal cancer screening and surveillance. This development has only been possible with advances in deep learning, like the convolutional neural network model, which has enabled real-time detection of pathology. Comparatively, the majority of deep learning systems developed in inflammatory bowel disease have focused on predicting disease severity and were developed using still images rather than videos. The application of AI to pediatric endoscopy is in its infancy, thus providing an opportunity to develop clinically meaningful and fair systems that do not perpetuate societal biases. In this review, we provide an overview of AI, summarize the advances of AI in endoscopy, and describe its potential application to pediatric endoscopic practice and education.