Vet school AI tool vs. my 3 years of grooming experience? Not even close.

So I compared that new AI wound assessment app some vet school rolled out against my own eyes on a matted poodle last Tuesday. The app kept flagging a minor hotspot as a deep infection, gave me a whole list of meds I'd never use. I looked at the dog for 2 seconds and saw it was just an irritated scratch from rolling in dirt. The AI couldn't tell the difference between a 3mm scratch and a 2cm tear because it doesn't understand fur texture or dog behavior. Has anyone else found these diagnostic tools just miss basic common sense stuff? I'm all for tech but it's got a LONG way to go before I trust it with a living thing.

2 comments

2 Comments

the_joel2d ago

The vet school probably trained that thing on textbook photos of clean wounds, not real dogs. I tried one of those apps on a friend's cat and it kept calling a flea allergy rash ringworm. Three years of grooming experience means you know that poodle was just being a poodle. These tools don't get that a scratch on a matted coat looks way worse than it is because of dirt and hair. They're gonna cause more panic than they prevent. Let me know when it can tell the difference between a burr and a tick.

the_mia2d ago

That AI clearly never met a poodle. Groomers know what a real infection looks like, computers don't.