(Yicai Global) Feb. 14 -- Chinese search  engine giant Baidu wants to donate artificially intelligent medical  devices to poverty-stricken areas in China, but it does not yet have a  license to produce these potentially harmful machines. 

Baidu has expanded its business scope to  accommodate its plan to give AI machines used for fundus screening of  retinal diseases to 500 poor counties nationwide, while covering 56  million potential patients, the Beijing-based firm told Yicai Global.  The company is still pending relevant permits, it added. 

However, the Food and Drug  Administration's official site shows that Baidu has not yet applied for a  license to produce class-2 and class-3 medical devices, Chinese  newspaper the National Business Daily reported. Class 3 classifies  technologies that pose the highest level of potential danger to humans. 

Baidu has been developing the product  together with the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center under the Sun Yat-sen  University in southern Guangdong province. The device was debuted at  Baidu World Conference held last November.

Editor: Emmi Laine