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Mole or cancer? The algorithm that gets one in three melanomas wrong and erases patients with dark skin

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  • Yeah, it does make it racist, but which party is performing the racist act? The AI, the AI trainer, the data collector, or the system that prioritises white patients? That's the important distinction that simply calling it racist fails to address.

    There is a more specific word for it: Institutional racism.

    Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, healthcare, education and political representation.[1]

  • I never said that the data gathered over decades wasn't biased in some way towards racial prejudice, discrimination, or social/cultural norms over history. I am quite aware of those things.

    But if a majority of the data you have at your disposal is from fair skinned people, and that's all you have...using it is not racist.

    Would you prefer that no data was used, or that we wait until the spectrum of people are fully represented in sufficient quantities, or that they make up stuff?

    This is what they have. Calling them racist for trying to help and create something to speed up diagnosis helps ALL people.

    The creators of this AI screening tool do not have any power over how the data was collected. They're not racist and it's quite ignorant to reason that they are.

    I would prefer that as a community, we acknowledge the existence of this bias in healthcare data, and also acknowledge how harmful that bias is while using adequate resources to remedy the known issues.

    There is a more specific word for it: Institutional racism.

    Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, healthcare, education and political representation.[1]

  • If someone with dark skin gets a real doctor to look at them, because it's known that this thing doesn't work at all in their case, then they are better off, really.

    Doctors are best at diagnosing skin cancer in people of the same skin type as themselves, it's just a case of familiarity. Black people should have black skin doctors for highest success rates, white people should have white doctors for highest success rates. Perhaps the next generation of doctors might show more broad success but that remains to be seen in research.

  • Do you think any of these articles are lying or that these are not intended to generate certain sentiments towards immigrants?

    Are they valid concerns to be aware of?

    The reason I'm asking is because could you not say the same about any of these articles even though we all know exactly what the NY Post is doing?

    Compare it to posts on Lemmy with AI topics. They're the same.

  • Media forcing opinions using the same framework they always use.

    Regardless if it's the right or the left. Media is owned by people lik the Koch and bannons and Murdoch's even left leading media.

    They don't want the left using AI or building on it. They've been pushing a ton of articles to left leaning spaces using the same framework they use when it's election season and are looking to spin up the right wing base. It's all about taking jobs, threats to children, status quo.

  • It's, going to erase me?

    Who said that?

  • I never said that the data gathered over decades wasn't biased in some way towards racial prejudice, discrimination, or social/cultural norms over history. I am quite aware of those things.

    But if a majority of the data you have at your disposal is from fair skinned people, and that's all you have...using it is not racist.

    Would you prefer that no data was used, or that we wait until the spectrum of people are fully represented in sufficient quantities, or that they make up stuff?

    This is what they have. Calling them racist for trying to help and create something to speed up diagnosis helps ALL people.

    The creators of this AI screening tool do not have any power over how the data was collected. They're not racist and it's quite ignorant to reason that they are.

    They absolutely have power over the data sets.

    They could also fund research into other cancers and work with other countries like ones in Africa where there are more black people to sample.

    It's impossible to know intent but it does seem pretty intentionally eugenics of them to do this when it has been widely criticized and they refuse to fix it. So I'd say it is explicitly racist.

  • Though I get the point, I would caution against calling "racism!" on AI not being able to detect molea or cancers well on people with darker skin; its harder to see darker areas on darker skins. That is physics, not racism

    if only you read more than three sentences you'd see the problem is with the training data. instead you chose to make sure no one said the R word. ben shapiro would be proud

  • They absolutely have power over the data sets.

    They could also fund research into other cancers and work with other countries like ones in Africa where there are more black people to sample.

    It's impossible to know intent but it does seem pretty intentionally eugenics of them to do this when it has been widely criticized and they refuse to fix it. So I'd say it is explicitly racist.

    Eugenics??? That's crazy.

    So you'd prefer that they don't even start working with this screening method until we have gathered enough data to satisfy everyones representation?

    Let's just do that and not do anything until everyone is happy. Nothing will happen ever and we will all collectively suffer.

    How about this. Let's let the people with the knowledge use this "racist" data and help move the bar for health forward for everyone.

  • Eugenics??? That's crazy.

    So you'd prefer that they don't even start working with this screening method until we have gathered enough data to satisfy everyones representation?

    Let's just do that and not do anything until everyone is happy. Nothing will happen ever and we will all collectively suffer.

    How about this. Let's let the people with the knowledge use this "racist" data and help move the bar for health forward for everyone.

    It isn't crazy and it's the basis for bioethics, something I had to learn about when becoming a bioengineer who also worked with people who literally designed AI today and they continue to work with MIT, Google, and Stanford on machine learning... I have spoked extensively with these people about ethics and a large portion of any AI engineer's job is literally just ethics. Actually, a lot of engineering is learning ethics and accidents - they go hand in hand, like the Hotel Hyatt collapse.

    I never suggested they stop developing the screening technology, don't strawman, it's boring. I literally gave suggestions for how they can fix it and fix their data so it is no longer functioning as a tool of eugenics.

    Different case below, but related sentiment that AI is NOT a separate entity from its creators/engineers and they ABSOLUTELY should be held liable for the outcomes of what they engineer regardless of provable intent.

    You don’t think the people who make the generative algorithm have a duty to what it generates?

    And whatever you think anyway, the company itself shows that it feels obligated about what the AI puts out, because they are constantly trying to stop the AI from giving out bomb instructions and hate speech and illegal sexual content.

    The standard is not and was never if they were “entirely” at fault here. It’s whether they have any responsibility towards this (and we all here can see that they do indeed have some), and how much financially that’s worth in damages.

  • The Basque Country is implementing Quantus Skin in its health clinics after an investment of 1.6 million euros. Specialists criticise the artificial intelligence developed by the Asisa subsidiary due to its "poor” and “dangerous" results. The algorithm has been trained only with data from white patients.

    you cant diagnosed melanoma just by the skin features alone, you need biopsy and gene tic testing too. furthermore, other types of melanoma do not have typical abcde signs sometimes.

    histopathology gives the accurate indication if its melonoma or something else, and how far it spread in the sample.

  • It isn't crazy and it's the basis for bioethics, something I had to learn about when becoming a bioengineer who also worked with people who literally designed AI today and they continue to work with MIT, Google, and Stanford on machine learning... I have spoked extensively with these people about ethics and a large portion of any AI engineer's job is literally just ethics. Actually, a lot of engineering is learning ethics and accidents - they go hand in hand, like the Hotel Hyatt collapse.

    I never suggested they stop developing the screening technology, don't strawman, it's boring. I literally gave suggestions for how they can fix it and fix their data so it is no longer functioning as a tool of eugenics.

    Different case below, but related sentiment that AI is NOT a separate entity from its creators/engineers and they ABSOLUTELY should be held liable for the outcomes of what they engineer regardless of provable intent.

    You don’t think the people who make the generative algorithm have a duty to what it generates?

    And whatever you think anyway, the company itself shows that it feels obligated about what the AI puts out, because they are constantly trying to stop the AI from giving out bomb instructions and hate speech and illegal sexual content.

    The standard is not and was never if they were “entirely” at fault here. It’s whether they have any responsibility towards this (and we all here can see that they do indeed have some), and how much financially that’s worth in damages.

    I know what bioethics is and how it applies to research and engineering. Your response doesn't seem to really get to the core of what I'm saying: which is that the people making the AI tool aren't racist.

    Help me out: what do the researchers creating this AI screening tool in its current form (with racist data) have to do with it being a tool of eugenics? That's quite a damning statement.

    I'm assuming you have a much deeper understanding of what kind of data this AI screening tool uses and the finances and whatever else that goes into it. I feel that the whole "talk with Africa" to balance out the data is not great sounding and is overly simplified.

    Do you really believe that the people who created this AI screening tool should be punished for using this racist data, regardless of provable intent? Even if it saved lives?

    Does this kind of punishment apply to the doctor who used this unethical AI tool? His knowledge has to go into building it up somehow. Is he, by extension, a tool of eugenics too?

    I understand ethical obligations and that we need higher standards moving forward in society. But even if the data right now is unethical, and it saves lives, we should absolutely use it.

  • I know what bioethics is and how it applies to research and engineering. Your response doesn't seem to really get to the core of what I'm saying: which is that the people making the AI tool aren't racist.

    Help me out: what do the researchers creating this AI screening tool in its current form (with racist data) have to do with it being a tool of eugenics? That's quite a damning statement.

    I'm assuming you have a much deeper understanding of what kind of data this AI screening tool uses and the finances and whatever else that goes into it. I feel that the whole "talk with Africa" to balance out the data is not great sounding and is overly simplified.

    Do you really believe that the people who created this AI screening tool should be punished for using this racist data, regardless of provable intent? Even if it saved lives?

    Does this kind of punishment apply to the doctor who used this unethical AI tool? His knowledge has to go into building it up somehow. Is he, by extension, a tool of eugenics too?

    I understand ethical obligations and that we need higher standards moving forward in society. But even if the data right now is unethical, and it saves lives, we should absolutely use it.

    I addressed that point by saying their intent to be racist or not is irrelevant when we focus on impact to the actual victims (ie systemic racism). Who cares about the individual engineer's morality and thoughts when we have provable, measurable evidence of racial disparity that we can correct easily?

    It literally allows black people to die and saves white people more. That's eugenics.

    It is fine to coordinate with universities in like Kenya, what are you talking about?

    I never said shit about the makers of THIS tool being punished! Learn to read! I said the tool needs fixed!

    Like seriously you are constantly taking the position of the white male, empathizing, then running interference for him as if he was you and as if I'm your mommy about to spank you. Stop being weird and projecting your bullshit.

    Yes, doctors who use this tool on their black patients and white patients equally would be perofmring eugenics, just like the doctors who sterikized indigenous women because they were poor were doing the same. Again, intent and your ego isn't relevanf when we focus on impacts to victims and how to help them.

    We should demand they work in a very meaningful way to get the data to be as good for black people as their #1 priority, ie doing studies and collecting that data

  • I addressed that point by saying their intent to be racist or not is irrelevant when we focus on impact to the actual victims (ie systemic racism). Who cares about the individual engineer's morality and thoughts when we have provable, measurable evidence of racial disparity that we can correct easily?

    It literally allows black people to die and saves white people more. That's eugenics.

    It is fine to coordinate with universities in like Kenya, what are you talking about?

    I never said shit about the makers of THIS tool being punished! Learn to read! I said the tool needs fixed!

    Like seriously you are constantly taking the position of the white male, empathizing, then running interference for him as if he was you and as if I'm your mommy about to spank you. Stop being weird and projecting your bullshit.

    Yes, doctors who use this tool on their black patients and white patients equally would be perofmring eugenics, just like the doctors who sterikized indigenous women because they were poor were doing the same. Again, intent and your ego isn't relevanf when we focus on impacts to victims and how to help them.

    We should demand they work in a very meaningful way to get the data to be as good for black people as their #1 priority, ie doing studies and collecting that data

    Define eugenics for me, please.

    You're saying the tool in its current form with it's data "seems pretty intentionally eugenics" and..."a tool for eugenics". And since you said the people who made that data, the AI tool, and those who are now using it are also responsible for anything bad ...they are by your supposed extension eugenicists/racists and whatever other grotesque and immoral thing you can think of. Because your link says that regardless of intention, the AI engineers should ABSOLUTELY be punished.

    They have to fix it, of course, so it can become something other than a tool for eugenics as it is currently. Can you see where I think your argument goes way beyond rational?

    Would I have had this conversation with you if the tool worked really well on only black people and allowed white people to die disproportionately? I honestly can't say. But I feel you would be quiet on the issue. Am I wrong?

    I don't think using the data, as it is, to save lives makes you racist or supports eugenics. You seem to believe it does. That's what I'm getting after. That's why I think we are reading different books.

    Once again...define eugenics for me, please.

    Regardless, nothing I have said means that I don't recognize institutional racism and that I don't want the data set to become more evenly distributed so it takes into consideration the full spectrum of human life and helps ALL people.

  • The BBC is launching a paywall in the US

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    Yeah back in the day we made sure no matter who you were and what was going on you had the opportunity to hear our take on it Mind you I suppose that still happens thanks to us being a very loud and online people, but having an "America says x" channel in a time where people liked us sure was a good idea
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    Just keep in mind they are considered a crime in the US and can be located. Use with caution.
  • Resurrecting a dead torrent tracker and finding 3 million peers

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    donating online Yeah i suppose any form of payment that you have to keep secret for some reason is a reason to use crypto, though I struggle to imagine needing that if you're not doing something dodgy avoiding scams for p2p transactions Wat. Crypto is not good at solving that, it's in fact much much worse than traditional payment methods. There's a reason scammers always want to be paid in crypto boycotting the banking system What specifically are you boycotting? The money that backs your crypto (i.e. that you bought it with) still sits in a bank account somewhere and continues to support the banks. All you're boycotting then are payments, but those are usually free for consumers (many banks lose money on them) so you're not exactly "sticking it to the man" by not using them. Evem if you were somehow hurting banks by using crypto, if you think the people that benefit from you using crypto (crypto exchange owners and billionaires that own crypto etc.) are less evil than goverment regulated banks, you're deluded. What about avoiding international payment fees? You'll spend more money using crypto for that, not less
  • matrix is cooked

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    That's very fair. Better start contributing I guess.
  • X launches E2E encrypted Chat

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    So you do have evidence? Where is it?
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    Their previous GPU used an old AMD GPU design if I recall correctly. I wonder if they have in-house stuff now.
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  • Bookmark keywords, again (Firefox)

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    bokehphilia@lemmy.mlB
    This is terrible news. I also have a keyboard-centric workflow and also make heavy use of keyword bookmarks. I too use custom bookmarklets containing JavaScript that I can invoke with a few key strokes for multiple uses including: 1: Auto-expanding all nested Reddit comments on posts with many comments on desktop. 2: Downloading videos from certain web sites. 3: Playing a play-by-forum online board game. 4: Helping expand and aid in downloading images from a certain host. 5: Sending X (Twitter) URLs in the browser bar to Nitter or TWStalker. And all these without touching the mouse! It's really disappointing to read that Firefox could be taking so much capability in the browser away.