When it comes to diagnosing skin cancer, man may actually be worse than machine. A new study from the University of Heidelberg found that a form of artificial intelligence known as a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) was able to more accurately identify malignant and benign skin lesions than a fleet of dermatologists.
“For the first time we compared a CNN’s diagnostic performance with a large international group of 58 dermatologists, including 30 experts,” wrote the researchers. “Most dermatologists were outperformed by the CNN. Irrespective of any physicians’ experience, they may benefit from assistance by a CNN’s image classification.”
