According to researchers, a new A.I computer can diagnose skin cancer more accurately than doctors.
The team, from Germany, the U.S. and France, behind the study published in the journal Annals of Oncology calibrated the specially programed device deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) by showing it over 100,000 images of malignant and benign skin cancers, and inputting a diagnosis for each.
The (CNN) was able to identify skin cancer more accurately than 58 dermatologists from 17 countries. Some 30 of the dermatologists involved in the study were considered experts as they had more than five years’ experience, while 11 had between two to five and 17 had less than two.
“The CNN missed fewer melanomas, meaning it had a higher sensitivity than the dermatologists,” the study’s first author Holger Haenssle of the University of Heidelberg said in a statement.
There are about 232,000 new cases of melanoma, and 55,500 deaths, in the world each year.
It is unlikely that a machine will take over from human doctors entirely, rather functioning as an aid.