Artera, a leading developer of multimodal artificial intelligence (MMAI)-based predictive tools for cancer, announced the publication of a validation study in the JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics. The study examined the ability of Artera’s MMAI model to predict prostate cancer outcomes across diverse racial groups, including African American patients. This comes at a critical time, as AI tools in healthcare face scrutiny for potentially exacerbating racial biases, particularly when they are trained on non-representative datasets.
Addressing Racial Disparities in AI Tools:
Many AI tools are developed using datasets that do not fully represent diverse populations, contributing to concerns that these tools may not perform equally for all racial subgroups. African American men, in particular, face worse prostate cancer outcomes, partly due to their underrepresentation in AI training datasets. Artera’s study, however, offers a promising solution by demonstrating that its MMAI model performs well across both African American and non-African American prostate cancer patients.
Quote from Mack Roach III, Lead Investigator:
“It’s important to conduct studies to ensure new clinical decision support tools work well across a diverse patient population. This study reassures African American men that they too will benefit from advanced risk stratification tools like those developed by Artera.”
Study Details: A Step Toward Equitable AI in Healthcare
The study included 5,708 patients from five randomized Phase 3 clinical trials, evaluating the MMAI model’s ability to predict distant metastasis (DM) and prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM). The results demonstrated the model’s strong predictive capability in both African American and non-African American patients, offering clinicians a valuable tool for personalized cancer care.
Artera’s algorithm showed significant accuracy in identifying high-risk patients who may benefit from more aggressive treatment plans, regardless of race. This breakthrough demonstrates the potential for AI to improve patient care across all racial groups, promoting equity in clinical decision-making.
Artera’s Commitment to Diversity in AI Models
Timothy Showalter, Chief Medical Officer at Artera, expressed enthusiasm for the study’s publication and emphasized the company’s ongoing efforts to validate its AI models across various racial subgroups. “We’re thrilled to have this important validation study published as we continue our ongoing validation efforts across additional racial subgroups. As the leader in leveraging AI for more personalized care, this work is crucial to ensure our tools are broadly representative.”
Artera remains committed to utilizing diverse datasets for the training and validation of its AI models, partnering with global organizations to ensure that the MMAI model is trained on data that accurately reflects the diverse patient populations it aims to serve.
Artera’s successful validation of its MMAI model for prostate cancer prognosis in diverse racial groups is a key milestone in the development of equitable AI tools for clinical decision-making. With a focus on personalized care, Artera is advancing AI’s role in healthcare while ensuring that these tools serve all patient populations fairly, regardless of race.
