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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has forced the company HeHealth to shut down its Calmara application, which promised to use artificial intelligence to detect sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
According to the FTC's letter dated July 11, the application allowed users to send "dick pics" for STI testing, promising "clear, scientifically based answers about the sexual health status of your partner." The agency expressed concerns about the information HeHealth relied on in its statements, particularly about its claim of being able to detect over 10 STIs with an accuracy of up to 94 percent.
The Commission found that HeHealth had paid the authors of studies it referenced. Additionally, the main study only covered four types of STIs instead of the claimed ten. The data used to train the AI model included images from users who had not undergone diagnostic tests to confirm the results.
Medical experts have doubted the reliability of the application's methods, considering that most STIs are asymptomatic. Journalists from the Los Angeles Times discovered that Calmara could not even differentiate non-living objects and could not identify typical STI signs in images.
HeHealth agreed to cease the operation of both its applications by July 15 and to delete all personal customer information. The company also committed to requesting payment systems to remove data about its users.
"FTC is so committed to protecting consumers that it is even willing to dig through dick pics to protect Americans from scammers with artificial intelligence," a source familiar with the matter told The Verge, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to comment on the investigation.
Despite closing the investigation, the FTC warned that it may take further action if the public interest requires it. The Commission noted the illegality of health benefit advertising claims without reliable scientific evidence.
Source: TheVerge.
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