We don't see AI opportunity

If a picture tells a thousand words, these are the two jostling foremost in a patient's mind when a radiologist scans their body for a better image of that suspicious lump or mass. But there is so much more a picture can tell us about cancer, particularly if we consider the possibilities of artificial intelligence. In 2017, US scientists announced they had developed an algorithm, or a computerised tool, to identify skin cancers through analysis of photographs. The algorithm scans a photo of a patch of skin to look for common forms of skin cancer, performing on par with board-certified dermatologists in identifying malignant melanomas (the third most common cancer in Australia) and keratinocyte carcinoma. This technology might enable skin cancer detection in country clinics and suburban GPs' offices at the highest accuracy available.