Smart Toilets Are Already Using AI to Analyze Your Poop
Companies like Kohler Health and Throne are marketing smart toilets equipped with AI-powered cameras to analyze stool and urine for health insights. While these companies claim to offer personalized wellness data, gastroenterologists remain skeptical of their clinical value and privacy advocates raise concerns about data security.
Why it matters
The rise of 'smart' health monitoring devices in private spaces raises critical questions about medical efficacy, data privacy, and the commercialization of personal health metrics.
The global gut health market is expected to reach nearly $106 billion by 2029, and a handful of companies are betting they can use stool data to provide in-depth health insights, nudge people to change their diets or lifestyles, and advise them to see a doctor if their bathroom habits seem amiss. But gastroenterologists are skeptical that products that rely on AI to analyze images of what’s going on in your toilet bowl are worth the price just yet, and data-privacy advocates warn that people can get locked into long-term subscriptions just to access their own health data.
Among the companies touting smart toilets are Kohler Health—an offshoot of the eponymous plumbing giant that sells its device for $449 plus $130 for an annual family membership—and Throne, a startup that raised $10 million in July. Its product is $399 plus $70 for an annual membership.
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