
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligent dermatologist able to detect skin cancer.
STATES CHRONICLE – A team of scientist at Stanford University developed an artificial intelligent dermatologist to detect skin cancer which proved to be extremely efficient. AI has revolutionized the field of healthcare through this new and innovative app which transforms your smartphone into a cancer scanner. Cancer Research UK claimed that this new app might become a useful tool for medical staff and healthcare providers.
Firstly, the AI was reconfigured from software generated by Google which was used to identify the difference between pictures of dogs and cats. Secondly, the AI tool was familiarized with 129,450 images, repeatedly being told what type of skin disease was in the picture. Thirdly, the artificial intelligent dermatologist learned to spot the features which indicated the most common types of skin cancer, meaning carcinoma and melanoma.
Previous statistics have proved that only one out of twenty skin cancers are melanoma. Nevertheless, this accounts for about three-quarters of skin cancer deaths. The newly developed experiment was detailed in Nature magazine. What is more, the AI device was tested against 21 trained skin cancer doctors. Dr. Andre Esteva, one of the researchers, claimed that they used board-certified doctors, selecting them from the top dermatologists.
However, the AI was not able to establish a full diagnosis because the diagnosis is fully confirmed by a tissue biopsy. Dr. Esteva noted that the new tool needs to be tested together with doctors in special laboratories. He also claimed that the implementation of this AI dermatologist in healthcare might be viewed as a significant area of research which can be invested to obtain an incredible deal of societal good.
Everyone will be able to use a certain algorithm on their smartphone, after researchers manage to develop it into an app, testing its accuracy by using a mobile phone. However, we all need to be patient because this may be a tough project which requires a lot of work. We need to be aware of the impressive advancement which made AI surpass the performance of humans in many respects.
For example, in London, a team of doctors used AI to predict when the heart of the patient will fail. Dr. Jana Witt, from the charity association known as the Cancer Research UK, argued that the new method of using AI to spot skin cancer is very ambitious, being able to receive support from dermatologists and GPs.
Image source: flickr