Jamie F
An AI-powered web app that scans photos of penises to detect signs of STIs and abnormal conditions has launched, claiming to be the “next best thing to a lab test for a quick check”.
Calmara has been released by the penis health AI app company HeHealth, and is marketed at young people who want to check their sexual partner’s dingus for anything iffy before getting too close to it.
To use it you take a photo of the penis in question (with the consent of its owner), then upload it to the Calmara site, which then tells you if the schlong looks ‘clear’ or in need of further investigation.
This is when the true purpose of the web app’s launch is revealed. If the AI “spotted something sus”, as Calmara’s post penis-check wording goes, it suggests you look into it further by using the HeHealth penis health app.
Calmara is, essentially, a free but restricted version of the AI penis photo-scanning service already available within the HeHealth app, which charges $9.99 for a full report of the scan and a medical summary based on a review of the photo by experts.
It may be a marketing tool, but still, if a web app gets more people to act diligently about STI and penis condition detection, it could be a positive thing. Calmara’s AI can detect signs of STIs such as syphilis, herpes, fordyce spots, pearly penile papules (PPP) and human papillomavirus infection (HPV).
Being based on images, Calmara cannot, of course, detect a huge amount of STIs and conditions that do not manifest in easily visibly symptoms. Its makers say the web app is “like your scout – it helps you spot things early, not the final word”.
HeHealth also says that Calmara is “not to be used to diagnose, cure, treat, manage, or prevent any disease or condition.”
The company claims that Calmara’s AI has a 65-96 percent accuracy range, following testing on over 40,000 users. It can be used anonymously, with no names or personal information linked to uploaded dick pics, with any stored data encrypted.
Calmara warns that there is a “slim chance it might throw a false positive… or miss the mark with a false negative, skipping over something it should’ve caught.”
In 2022 an app called iPlaySafe launched, offering home STI check kits with results provided within its app, available to show potential sexual partners. The kits are currently sold in the UK for £60 ($76) and has failed to gain much traction, perhaps because home STI tests are available for free on the NHS, albeit without a rizzy app.
