The Aporia · Alibaba open-sources medical AI model that can detect cancer and nearly 150 conditions

Alibaba open-sources medical AI model that can detect cancer and nearly 150 conditions

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Cao, A. (2026, September 18). Alibaba open-sources medical AI model that can detect cancer and nearly 150 conditions. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3368055/alibaba-open-sources-medical-ai-model-can-detect-cancer-and-nearly-150-conditions?utm_source=rss_feed

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Quick Summary

Alibaba's Damo Academy has released an open-source artificial intelligence model called Damo Radar that can detect nearly 150 abdominal conditions, including cancers, from CT scans. Tested on almost 40,000 real-world exams, the model achieved an average AUC of 0.913 across 146 clinical findings, outperforming most radiologists according to a study published in Science. The vision-language model was trained using CT scans and corresponding clinical reports and is described as the world's first expert-level generalist medical imaging model that could potentially be adapted for other types of medical images.

Written by AI on 2026-09-18, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Alibaba Group Holding's research arm, Damo Academy, has open-sourced a new artificial intelligence model named Damo Radar. This AI can detect nearly 150 abdominal conditions from CT scans, including cancers and other abnormalities. Trained on over 40,000 real-world exams paired with clinical reports, the model outperformed most radiologists in identifying various diseases with an average area under the curve (AUC) of 0.913 across 146 findings. An AUC score of 1.0 represents perfect accuracy. The research team claims this is the world’s first expert-level generalist medical imaging model and suggests its training method could be applied to other types of medical images.

Written for “Alibaba Medical AI Model” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

33%

2 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

64/100

South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Technology

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

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Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

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Publisher

South China Morning Post · 3517 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

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Topics

Alibaba Damo Academy Damo Radar Science Alibaba Group Holding’s

Subjects

Alibaba ORG · 1× Damo Academy ORG · 1× Science Alibaba Group Holding’s ORG · 1×

Narrative

The vision-language model, called Damo Radar, was designed to analyse contrast-enhanced CT scans covering 18 abdominal organs and identify a broad range of diseases and other abnormalities, such as malignant tumours, the institute said on Friday.

framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18

2026-09-18 · South China Morning Post

Alibaba open-sources medical AI model that can detect cancer and nearly 150 conditions · mixed framing

Claims (6 extracted, 2 hedged)

Alibaba open-sources medical AI model that can detect cancer and nearly 150 conditions Tested on nearly 40,000 real-world exams, the model outperformed most radiologists, according to a new study published in Science Alibaba Group Holding’s research arm, Damo Academy, has open-sourced an artificial intelligence model capable of identifying nearly 150 abdominal conditions – including cancers – by reading computed tomography (CT) scans, marking the latest step in the firm’s growing medical AI efforts. uncertain

model → source → efforts

institute → call → Friday

The model was trained using CT scans paired with clinical reports. asserted

model → train → reports

In nearly 40,000 real-world examinations, it achieved an average area under the curve (AUC) of 0.913 across 146 clinical findings. asserted

it → achieve → findings

An AUC of 1.0 represents perfect diagnostic accuracy. asserted

AUC → represent → accuracy

The research team said the training method could eventually be extended to other types of medical imaging, calling the model “the world’s first expert-level generalist medical imaging model”. uncertain

method → say → model