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Google has always been a new technology leader, and most of its announcements usually come during the Google IO conference. Typically, whatever Google does quickly becomes big news; however, this new technology could be a real game-changer this time. The tech giant unveiled a new tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify nail, hair, and skin conditions after analyzing the images uploaded by patients, and it should launch later this year. If this app works the way it is supposed to, it can change the future of medicine.
Many doctors have said that if AI can help doctors identify illnesses, it could help save many more lives. As it stands, it is easy for doctors to miss some things that might cause a patient a lot of distress. With the power of AI at their side, doctors would be able to identify illnesses much quicker.
As of now, the AI application can recognize 288 types of different skin conditions, but this does not mean that it should be used as a substitute for a medical diagnosis for an actual doctor.
The application took three years to develop, and it was trained using a dataset of some 65,000 images of actual skin conditions. Aside from that, millions of images of normal skin marks and healthy skin of all shades were used.
According to Google, there are over 10 billion searches on Google every year related to nail, hair, and skin issues. The application has not been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its use in the United States. It is expected that the app will receive its nod because similar apps built by the British firm Optellum also got their approval from the FDA recently.
This is not the first AI app of its kind; doctors and professionals believe that the main highlight of this app by Google is that it is available to the public. It should be noted that this application does not replace a doctor’s diagnosis. If you do find something distressing using the app, you should immediately contact your doctor.
Even though the app is not designed to replace medical opinions from professionals, it remains to be seen how the public will use it. There are already various online medical resources that people can use, and they are responsible for spreading false panic among patients. But if used correctly, this AI application will not pose the same problems.
The doctors who helped create this application have said that the primary purpose of designing this application is to help doctors avoid severe skin conditions like skin cancer.
There is no denying the fact that AI and technology can be used in various walks of life. There are many uses of AI in the medical sector, and it can help doctors in a lot of ways.
