AI-produced images cant fix diversity issues in dermatology databases

Image databases of skin conditions are notoriously biased towards lighter skin. Rather than wait for the slow process of collecting more images of conditions like cancer or inflammation on darker skin, one group wants to fill in the gaps using artificial intelligence. It’s working on an AI program to generate synthetic images of diseases on darker skin — and using those images for a tool that could help diagnose skin cancer.

“Having real images of darker skin is the ultimate solution,” says Eman Rezk, a machine learning expert at McMaster University in Canada working on the project. “Until we have that data, we need to find a way to close the gap.”

But other experts working in the field worry that using synthetic images could introduce...

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