South Korean operator SK Telecom (SKT) extended availability of its AI veterinary diagnosis technology to North America, launching the service in Canada with plans to deploy the tool in more than 100 pet hospitals across the country.

Dubbed X Caliber, the technology uses AI to help veterinarians quickly diagnose X-ray images of dogs and cats. The operator described North America as “the world’s biggest pet market”, with data suggesting Canada has 28 million pets in total.

SKT explained X Caliber devises a cloud-based system allowing veterinarians to access the results of the AI diagnosis on their mobile devices or PCs, eliminating the need for separate server or hardware at the hospital.

Veterinarians will be able to analyse pet health in “approximately 15 seconds”, SKT stated, adding service’s AI diagnosis has a sensitivity of 86 per cent to 94 per cent.

X Caliber entered the Australian and Indonesian market in May, and SKT explained it will start deploying the technology in more than 100 Canadian pet clinics in August through a partnership with provider of veterinary imaging software solutions Nuon & Nikki.

The service was introduced in South Korea in 2022.

SKT also struck a deal with US X-Ray equipment distributor Myvet Imaging following a successful proof-of-concept in New Jersey.

VP global solution for AIX at SKT Son In-hyuk commented: “With these AI capabilities of SKT and Caliber AI Healthcare, we are dedicated to pioneer groundbreaking solutions that genuinely improve the well-being of pets”.