United States: a start-up promises to detect STDs with a simple photo
Cairo: Mai Kamal El-Din
This application is called Calmara, it was launched a few days ago by an American start-up, and, on paper at least, the idea may seem good to fight against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). So how does it work? If you have any doubts about the sexual health of your male partner (for the moment, it only works with men), you can – with his consent specifies the application – upload a photo of his penis into the application . Trained in Artificial Intelligence, Calmara will detect potential signs of infection, and advise you, if this is the case, to carry out in-depth tests. All with emojis and a good-natured tone. The idea is therefore to relieve guilt and have the beginnings of an answer, when there is doubt.
But some American media have looked at the results, and they are quite random. Le Los Angeles Times put the application to the test, loading dozens of photos from a public bank of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) – the public health administration in the United States. If the application works in most cases, it sometimes does not detect photos of sexes showing obvious signs at all, for example for a very advanced case of syphilis. More worrying, the application takes small, totally benign and natural anomalies on certain sexes as signs of infection. She also claims that a vase or a cake in the shape of a penis are completely healthy. However, the application promises a reliability rate of 65 to 95%.
At this point, all medical researchers interviewed believe that this app does more harm than good. It reinforces what it claims to fight. If many patients are looking for quick and easy answers on the internet, with many false diagnoses, the application increases anxiety. A doctor interviewed by the LA Times estimates that 65% success is far too low to make this application a medical tool, and he reminds that nothing replaces analyzes with blood or urine samples. The CEO of Calamara promises that – as with all artificial intelligence – the results will be refined over time.
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