(ORDO NEWS) — It turns out that artificial intelligence (AI) is able to see things that humans cannot naturally see. Researchers have found that AI can identify race from x-ray images, despite human experts not seeing the difference.
Based only on x-rays and CT scans, the artificial intelligence was able to identify the race with about 90 percent accuracy, and scientists cannot figure out how it can do it.
The findings suggest that extreme care must be taken when introducing AI into medical technology, as even if images are submitted that are considered anonymous, blurry, or otherwise corrupted, AI will still be able to evaluate them. The study was published in the journal Lancet Digital Health.
“When my graduate students showed me some of the results, I really thought it was a mistake,” said MIT assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and paper co-author Marzieh Gassemi. “I honestly thought my students were crazy when they told me.”
To test the AI’s ability to identify images, it was loaded with CT and X-ray images of various body parts of various groups of people, with each image labeled with a person’s race.
The marks were then removed along with any possible identifying features such as skin color and hair color. For each AI image, it was proposed to determine the race of the person.
For all areas of the body, the AI was able to identify the race with about 90 percent accuracy, even without any identifying features.
The researchers were trying to figure out if the AI was using statistics to make a guess based on body parameters like body mass index (BMI) or breast density.
The scientists ruled out possible covariances and only showed AI datasets of people with similar BMIs and body types, but the AI was still able to determine race.
How can he do it? Frankly, the researchers can not understand.
This is not the first time that artificial intelligence has surprised scientists by identifying a race under near-impossible conditions.
The researchers suggest that artificial intelligence can identify variations in melanin between the skin of blacks and whites, which can show up on CT scans and X-rays, and people simply never noticed it. However, this is just one idea.
Regardless, the information should raise serious concerns about the use of AI in hospitals and how different races might respond differently.
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