Ensuring Appropriate Representation in Artificial Intelligence–Generated Medical Imagery: Protocol for a Methodological Approach to Address Skin Tone Bias

Abstract

Background: In medical education, particularly in anatomy and dermatology, generative artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to create customized illustrations. However, the underrepresentation of darker skin tones in medical textbooks and elsewhere, which serve as training data for AI, poses a significant challenge in ensuring diverse and inclusive educational materials. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the extent of skin tone diversity in AI-generated medical images and to test whether the representation of skin tones can be improved by modifying AI prompts to better reflect the demographic makeup of the US population. Methods: In total, 2 standard AI models (Dall-E [OpenAI] and Midjourney [Midjourney Inc]) each generated 100 images of people with psoriasis. In addition, a custom model was developed that incorporated a prompt injection aimed at “forcing” the AI (Dall-E 3) to reflect the skin tone distribution of the US population according to the 2012 American National Election Survey. This custom model generated another set of 100 images. The skin tones in these images were assessed by 3 researchers using the New Immigrant Survey skin tone scale, with the median value representing each image. A chi-square goodness of fit analysis compared the skin tone distributions from each set of images to that of the US population. Results: The standard AI models (Dalle-3 and Midjourney) demonstrated a significant difference between the expected skin tones of the US population and the observed tones in the generated images (P