The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has forced HeHealth to shut down its Calmara app, which promised to use artificial intelligence to detect sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
According to FTC letter dated July 11, the app invited users to send in a dipstick to be tested for sexually transmitted infections, promising «clear, science-based answers about your partner’s sexual health». The letter raises some of the agency’s concerns about the information HeHealth relied on in its claims, including that it can detect more than 10 sexually transmitted infections, with an accuracy of 94 percent.
The Commission found out that HeHealth paid for the work of the authors of the studies it referred to. In addition, the main study covered only four types of STDs instead of the claimed ten. The data used to train the AI model contained images from users who did not undergo diagnostic tests to confirm the results.
Medical experts expressed doubts about the reliability of the app’s methods, given that most STDs have no symptoms. The Los Angeles Times found that Calmara did not distinguish even inanimate objects and could not identify the typical signs of STDs in the images.
HeHealth agreed to shut down both of its apps by July 15 and delete all personal information of its customers. The company has also committed to asking payment systems to delete their users’ data.
«The FTC is so committed to consumer protection that it is even willing to wade through pages of dikpiks to protect Americans from AI scams», a source familiar with the matter told The Verge, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the investigation.
Despite the closure of the investigation, the FTC warned that it may take further action if the public interest so requires. The Commission emphasized the illegality of advertising claims of health benefits without reliable scientific evidence.
Source: TheVerge