Artificial intelligence and machine learning in dermatological research and healthcare: British Society for Investigative Dermatology Skin Club Report, Southampton, April 2024

Lay Summary The British Society of Investigative Dermatology is the annual meeting of the UK’s skin research community. At this year’s meeting in Southampton, there was a discussion on the history and potential of artificial intelligence (‘AI’) in health care. The four experts who spoke at the meeting have summarized their lectures in this paper. There is a piece on Alan Turing, who proposed the ‘Turing Test’ to find out if a machine could think like a human. Concepts like ‘machine learning’ (a key tool in AI) are explained. Next, there is a piece on the challenges of using AI decision-making tools in the skin cancer pathway. We discuss AI/machine learning approaches to grouping patients and choosing the best treatments for people with ‘atopic dermatitis’ (or ‘eczema’). Finally, potential pitfalls in AI are highlighted, including the need to explain how AI makes decisions and approaches to achieving this. There is much excitement about AI, and this paper captures the discussion from the meeting of the current state of AI in dermatology health care.