Mass General Brigham team builds AI that reads cancer survival from faces
A new AI model estimates biological age and predicts cancer survival risk from a single facial photograph. Researchers say it could help doctors guide treatment.
By Standard Topic. AI-generated from the reporting listed under Coverage. Published . Updated .
What happened
Mass General Brigham researchers trained an AI foundation model on more than 40 million facial images and used it to build tools that estimate biological age and predict survival risk in cancer patients. The tool can reportedly estimate a patient's chances of survival from a single photograph of their face. Proponents say it may help estimate a patient's physical reserve before intensive treatments such as radiation.
Why it matters
Doctors could use the tool to judge how ill a patient is and to personalize treatment. Proponents say it may help estimate physical reserve before radiation and other intensive therapies.
Timeline
- Oct 19, 4:24 PM ET: Mass General Brigham researchers announced AI tools that estimate biological age and predict cancer survival risk from facial images.
- Oct 20, 3:29 AM ET: US researchers said the AI may help doctors judge how ill a patient is using a single photograph of their face.
Coverage
- This AI model is trained to predict cancer survival from a single photo (Courtenay Harris Bond)
- Can one photo of your face reveal how ill you are? (BBC)
- New AI tool can predict cancer survival by a single patient selfie, study suggests (The Guardian)
- AI facial health recognition tools help physicians assess age and survival risk to guide personalized treatment (medicalxpress.com)
- Can AI predict whether you’ll die from cancer from just an image of your face? (Jackie Flynn Mogensen)
- AI facial health recognition tools help physicians assess age and survival risk to guide personalized treatment (massgeneralbrigham.org)
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