Technology for detecting skin cancer is forging ahead – but not for people of color, apparently

Artificial intelligence has drawn scrutiny for perpetuating the biases of the mostly white tech guys developing it. Much of the criticism has swirled around the facial recognition algorithms used in surveillance technology, shown to have higher error rates for women and BIPOC, per the ACLU, increasing their risk of wrongful arrest and police violence. Now, a new analysis reveals an insidious way that AI can widen racial health disparities, too. Researchers found that the datasets used to train AI programs to detect skin cancer includes hardly any images of dark skin, according to a National Cancer Research Institute press release. Simply put, this technology is being optimized for light skin.