AI Tool Uses a Single Selfie to Estimate Cancer Survival, Study Finds

Researchers have built an artificial intelligence system that can estimate a cancer patient's biological age and predict survival chances from an ordinary photograph of their face. The tool was developed by experts at Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts, and the findings were published in the Lancet Digital Health journal.

The model was trained on data from more than 40 million facial photographs spanning a range of ethnicities and ages. From that foundation, doctors created two complementary tools: FAHR-FaceAge, which estimates how old a person looks and predicts cancer survival, and FAHR-FaceSurvival, which predicts survival directly from a photograph rather than inferring it through biological age.

Each algorithm relies on different parts of the face. FAHR-FaceAge focuses on the creases running from the nose to the mouth, the forehead above the eye sockets and the temples, while FAHR-FaceSurvival evaluates the area below the eyes and around the nasal bridge.

Among US cancer patients treated with radiotherapy, those who appeared five or more years older than their actual age had a 21% higher risk of dying during an average four-year follow-up, while those who looked five or more years younger had a 17% lower risk.

Co-senior author Hugo Aerts said the work is, to the team's knowledge, the first demonstration that an AI model can directly predict cancer survival from a simple photograph. Dr Raymond Mak, a radiation oncologist at Mass General Brigham, said the goal is to make photograph-based health assessment more quantitative and consistent so it can support personalised treatment decisions rather than replace physician judgment.

Researchers also found that heavy alcohol use, drug use and smoking were linked to looking biologically older, and that the age estimates held up across variations in pose, lighting, facial expression and makeup. The doctors cautioned that more research is needed before the tool could be widely used.

Source: The Guardian