Did you knowNeural is taking the stage this fall?
Or, apparently, autism.
The two are not necessarily related.
Up front:Lets not spend 1,000 words explaining the problem here.
You cant detect autism with an iPhone.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Autistic individuals exist along a mental and emotional spectrum just like allistic individuals do.
Theres no test for autism.
Doctors dont use static criteria to diagnose autism.
It takes a lot of discussion and observation for a physician to arrive at a diagnosis of autism.
Many autistic people consider themselves perfectly healthy and find the idea that they need to be treated offensive.
These are data streams that can vary wildly across demographics.
Its beyond the scope of short term studies to apply such metrics to deep learning algorithms.
Lukewarm take:It makes no sense to develop this product.
Sure, research and development is never an indication that a feature will actually end up in production.
But this is a flawed premise from inception.Simply put, theres no scientific basis for this product.
When an Apple product detects a potentially harmful heart condition, its detecting anevent.
That event eitherdidordid nothappen.
Its trying to findarbitrary evidenceof autismhiddenin data.
Thats just not how mental illness and autism diagnosis works.
The ramifications of misdiagnosing mental illness or autism can be devastating.
The stigma against those with mental illness is often exacerbated by the compound stigma of seeking therapy.
And the stigma against those with autism has lead to some truly vile things.
Such bigotry standsat the heart of the pro-disease(commonly called anti-vaxxers) movement.
Heres hoping this one never makes it out of the lab.
