Experts distrust AI health devices

Las Vegas. Health technology devices on display at the annual CES technology show make big promises. A smart scale promotes a healthier lifestyle by scanning your feet to monitor your heart health, and an egg-shaped hormone tracker uses AI to help you determine the best time to conceive.

However, technology and health experts question the accuracy of products like these and warn of data privacy issues, especially as the federal government relaxes regulation.

The Food and Drug Administration announced during the event in Las Vegas that it will relax regulations on “low-risk” general wellness products, such as heart monitors and wheelchairs. It is the latest step by President Donald Trump’s administration to remove barriers to innovation and the use of AI. The White House repealed former President Joe Biden’s executive order that established safeguards around AI, and last month, the Department of Health and Human Services outlined its strategy to expand the use of that resource.

Booths at the conference showcased new technologies designed to help people living in rural areas meet their health care needs amid a physician shortage, boost research in women’s health and make life easier for people with disabilities.

AI technologies have benefits in the healthcare industry, which exceeds $4.3 trillion, according to Marschall Runge, a professor of medical sciences at the University of Michigan. They have great capabilities for analyzing medical images and can help streamline the busy schedules of healthcare professionals, he said, but they can also promote bias and “delusion,” providing incorrect information presented as fact.

“I would urge people not to think that technology is the same as a well-equipped, thoughtful, research-based medical professional,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Privacy protections, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, do not cover information collected by consumer devices, and companies could be using the data to train their AI models or selling it to other companies, he noted.

On many of the devices introduced at CES, it’s difficult to figure out where your information goes, Cohn said.

“You have to read the fine print carefully to try to figure it out, and I just don’t think that’s fair or right for the people who might depend on it,” he said.

But the products’ creators say their innovations fill gaps in healthcare and say they protect their customers’ privacy.

Sylvia Kang, founder and CEO of Mira, said she created the egg-shaped hormone tracker because many of her friends were trying to conceive and realized they were unaware of their hormonal health. To use the “world’s mini hormone lab,” you dip a wand in urine, insert it into the monitor, and view the results in the app.

Kang said her company uses AI to analyze female hormone data and has one of the largest hormone health banks in the world. The data is stored in the cloud and is not shared with anyone, he said.

“There was nothing like this before,” Kang said of his product, which costs $250.

Many of the devices introduced at CES focused on women’s health, which has historically been under-researched and underfunded. Before 1993, women were excluded from clinical trials, and there is still little research in areas such as menopause.

Although not all women will have a baby, they all go through menopause, and “yet we don’t know anything about it,” Amy Divaraniya, founder and CEO of women’s health company Oova, said in a session.

A device called Peri aims to better understand perimenopause, the transition phase before menopause. The wearable device monitors hot flashes and night sweats and provides the data through an app.

Other products introduced at CES were promoted as a way to increase accessibility to health information. He chatbot AI technology focused on medicine called 0xmd helps improve access to medical information in areas with a shortage of health professionals and provides a cost-effective alternative, said its founder and architect Allen Au. People can ask questions at chatbot about medicine, upload photos of a mole or rash, and send their doctors’ notes for an easier-to-understand translation, she said.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think we’re going to replace doctors,” but it’s possible to give people a second opinion, Allen Au said.

OpenAI on Wednesday announced the launch of ChatGPT Health, a similar platform.

Cohn remains skeptical of consumer technology. He expressed that they can help prepare people to ask the right questions of their doctor, but they are not going to replace a health professional.

“People must remember that they are just tools; they are not oracles that deliver truths,” he said.