STAT+: AI app claiming to diagnose STIs from penis pictures shut down after FTC scrutiny
The company that claimed its AI model could identify sexually transmitted infections from a single penis picture was shut down by the Federal Trade Commission in July.
STAT wrote about the app, Calmara, and the immediate critical response it drew from patient advocates, doctors, and privacy experts in April. The founders did not adequately explain how they would protect minors from accessing the app and sensitive user information. They also had little proof that the tool actually worked, with no peer-reviewed studies or clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.
The FTC hammered on Calmara’s lack of scientific evidence in its letter to Calmara’s parent company, called HeHealth. Specifically, the consumer protection agency pointed out that the data used to train the company’s AI model included photos from people who had never received a confirmatory diagnostic test. The data were also limited, and four out of five authors of the study were paid by HeHealth.
