AI can analyze your poop. Should it?
Startups like Throne Science are entering the 'toilet tech' market by using AI-driven sensors to analyze stool and urine for health tracking. While the technology offers potential for monitoring baselines, experts note it cannot yet diagnose specific digestive disorders.
Why it matters
The rise of smart bathroom technology represents a new frontier in the quantified-self movement and preventative health monitoring.
Getty Images; Rebecca Zisser/BI Throne Science, a startup cofounded by a WHOOP cofounder, just launched $10 million in Series A funding. It is part of the toilet tech boom, with brands like Vivoo and TOTO turning bathrooms into health trackers. AI-driven stool analysis can help gastroenterologists, but can't yet diagnose digestive disorders. In over a decade as a health journalist, I've interviewed people about some deeply personal health experiences, but this was a first. On a video call, Scott Hickle, CEO and cofounder of the startup Throne Science, held his phone up to the camera to show me a detailed diary of his bowel movements . He pointed to a stretch of blue ("that's healthy"), then an erratic jumble of colors — yellow (hard), orange (loose), blue again.
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