alt Hacker News> Its interesting to see this valid argument raised against this use of AI to identify breast cancer. The lack of control groups is one of the more common concerns raised related to vaccines as well, the argument lands like a lead balloon there.
Not just vaccines, in each study on the effectiveness of a drug, especially when dealing with potentially life-threatening conditions, the same question is posed. From[0]:
. . . ethical guidance permit the use of placebo controls in randomized trials when scientifically indicated in four cases: (1) when there is no proven effective treatment for the condition under study; (2) when withholding treatment poses negligible risks to participants; (3) when there are compelling methodological reasons for using placebo, and withholding treatment does not pose a risk of serious harm to participants; and, more controversially, (4) when there are compelling methodological reasons for using placebo, and the research is intended to develop interventions that can be implemented in the population from which trial participants are drawn, and the trial does not require participants to forgo treatment they would otherwise receive.