AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops
An individual behind the AI-powered app PoopCheck is attempting to sell a database of over 150,000 labeled stool images collected from approximately 25,000 users. While the app's public-facing materials emphasize privacy and data protection, its terms of service allow the company to use, distribute, and sell user-submitted health data. The incident highlights concerns about transparency and consent in the collection and commercialization of sensitive health data for AI training.
- ▪The PoopCheck app, developed by Soft All Things LLC, uses AI to analyze user-submitted images of stool based on the Bristol Stool Scale.
- ▪Despite marketing claims of 'Privacy First' and no data collection, the app's Terms and Conditions grant the company broad rights to sell and license user health data.
- ▪Over 150,000 stool images from around 25,000 users were collected and annotated, with the creator seeking to monetize the dataset for machine learning and medical research applications.
- ▪Users are not clearly informed that their data may be sold, creating a discrepancy between public privacy assurances and actual data practices.
- ▪The app includes a community feature where users can share stool images publicly, though participation is optional and requires explicit consent for each post.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
A few weeks ago, I came across a wild post on Reddit’s r/DHExchange, a subreddit for trading large datasets: “I hoarded a large database of something valuable, just not what’s [sic] you expect…150k stools images.” The post, made by a user called Ill_Car_7351, was advertising exactly what it sounds like: A database of poop images, collected from an AI poop analyzing app that he had launched several years ago. Basically, 25,000 people had been taking images of their poop and uploading them to his app. He’d been collecting, analyzing, and annotating these images and now wanted to sell access to them: “I’ve got 150k+ labeled and classified images of 💩 from roughly 25K different people.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at 404 Media.
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