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submitted 4 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Being a doctor is one of the jobs expected to be least at risk from AI replacement. But a new program launched in Utah is raising questions over that assumption. A healthcare startup will begin offering AI examinations and prescriptions to patients without direct human oversight, making Utah the first state to replace a doctor with an AI.

The good news is that the program is currently very limited in its scope. It's just one year long and only for patients with mild-to-moderate acne.

The process works when a person signs up for Nolla Health's $4.99-per-month app and uses it to scan their face. After completing a medical history and personal information form, the AI analyzes their skin, identifies the acne problem, rates the skin's oiliness, and then generates a numerical acne severity score that ranges between clear skin and severe acne, reports Bloomberg.

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As someone who works in biotech, and who has more than a few friends who work in medicine and clinical settings: this is absolutely going to kill people.

[-] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 10 points 4 days ago

And this is different from the normal US healthcare system how?

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 18 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Normally there is a human in the loop. That is the specific difference, and it is a real and crucial difference.

I get that you’re being pithy and taking a cheap shot at the US healthcare system, and it deserves to have cheap shots taken at it, but this is a whole brave new frontier of “incredibly fucked”.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world -5 points 4 days ago

Normally there is a human in the loop.

"In the loop" lol...

They hamstrung by insurance approvals, which have been shitty chatbots for years.

That human had zero control.

It doesn't mean this won't be worse, doesn't mean more people will die.

But from a patient's perspective it's not going to be much different. That means this is a bigger problem tho, not a smaller one.

Your pithy, dismissive responses about this makes it pretty clear you don’t actually understand the nuances of how medical/healthcare works, either in or out of the US.

At any rate: I’m not defending the US healthcare system. It’s an absolute shitshow. But if you think this particular development doesn’t matter much and things as of right now are already “as bad as they can get”… well, buckle up, buttercup. There are a lot of ways they can make our medical system meaningfully worse than it already is. This is just one mechanism to accomplish that.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago

they are already doing it in dental offices, and its already "misdiagnosing" people with fake teeth damage.

this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2026
468 points (97.2% liked)

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