Artificial intelligence can spot skin cancer as well as a trained doctor

Researchers at Stanford University have created an AI algorithm that can identify skin cancer as well as a professional doctor. The program was trained on nearly 130,000 images of moles, rashes, and lesions using a technique known as deep learning. It was then tested head-to-head against 21 human dermatologists, where its creators say it performed with an accuracy on par with humans ("at least" 91 percent as good). In the future, they suggest it could be used to create a mobile app for spotting skin cancer at home. Each year in the United States, some 5.4 million new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed.