--- title: "AI App That Claims to Detect STIs in Photos Offers Confident Diagnosis of Penis-Shaped Cake" description: "That new STI-detecting AI app apparently failed to detect a really bad case of syphilis — and gave a dick cake a clean bill of health." date: "2024-04-08" modified: "2024-04-08" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-sti-app-calmara" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "apps" - "stis" - "telehealth" - "the digest" --- # AI App That Claims to Detect STIs in Photos Offers Confident Diagnosis of Penis-Shaped Cake ![That new STI-detecting AI app apparently failed to detect a really bad case of syphilis — and gave a dick cake a clean bill of health.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Cake Walk A new healthcare app claims that its AI can detect sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with a 94.4 percent accuracy rate — but it apparently couldn't distinguish between penis-shaped novelty objects and, you know, actual genitals. In experiments with Calmara.ai [conducted by the *Los Angeles Times*](), a reporter found that not only did the [newly-released app]() give clean bills of health to both a cake and a vase that were shaped like dicks, but that it also failed to recognize very obvious STIs from healthcare websites while flagging normal bumps on uninfected junk as suspicious. Using images from various health care providers, the *LA Times* found that generally speaking, Calmara was able to detect things like chlamydia, herpes, and the human papillomavirus, which causes genital warts. But issues remain. In one photo of someone whose case of syphilis got so bad that their foreskin couldn't retract, Calmara gave a "clear" rating. ## Genital Anesthesia Not only is that oversight cause for concern, but according to some experts, that strange measurement system could easily lead the app, which is run by the startup HeHealth, to overlook conditions that often are not visible to the eye. "There are so many things wrong with this app that I don’t even know where to begin," Dr. Ina Park, a UC San Francisco professor and CDC consultant, told the newspaper. "With any tests you’re doing for STIs, there is always the possibility of false negatives and false positives. The issue with this app is that it appears to be rife with both." Even HeHealth's own scientific adviser, University of Southern California infectious disease specialist Jeffrey Klausner, admits that Clamara "can’t be promoted as a screening test." "To get screened for STIs, you’ve got to get a blood test. You have to get a urine test," Klausner told the *LA Times*. "Having someone look at a penis, or having a digital assistant look at a penis, is not going to be able to detect HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea. Even most cases of herpes are asymptomatic." Alongside those concerns are others, including the potential for nonconsensual or underage penis pics being uploaded, and for the app to stigmatize normal physiological differences as "something sus," per its cloying lingo. "If I am 18 years old, I take a picture of something that is a normal occurrence as part of the human body, \[and\] I get this that says that it’s ‘sus’? Now I’m stressing out," Joni Roberts, an assistant professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo who runs the school's sexual health lab, told the newspaper. Between the failed experiments and the massive caveats, the main "sus" thing here seems to be Calmara itself. **More on medical AI:** [*Doctors Using AI to Automatically Generate Clinical Notes on Patients*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()