Can a Selfie Predict Cancer Survival? This AI Tool Says Yes

What if your face knew more than your birth certificate? Scientists at Harvard Medical School have introduced FaceAge, an artificial intelligence system that examines facial photos to estimate your biological age,  a more accurate measure of how your body is aging than the number on your ID.

According to a new study published in The Lancet Digital Health, the software not only estimates aging more accurately but also better predicts cancer patients' survival rates than doctors.

Trained on more than 58,000 facial images of healthy patients, FaceAge was piloted on more than 6,000 US and European cancer patients in hospitals. It utilizes face detection and feature extraction to identify visual signs of aging, showing things that the naked eye does not always see.

Outperforming Doctors in Predicting Cancer Outcomes

The test was done with FaceAge on three important groups of cancer: treatment patients, breast (chest) cancer patients, and palliative care patients with advanced cancer. In all three, FaceAge made more accurate predictions of survival than doctors, despite complete medical information being available.

Among treated patients, patients with higher FaceAge scores had worse survival prospects. For palliative caregivers, the addition of FaceAge to existing prediction tools like TEACCH performed much better in survival prediction. Doctors who were provided with FaceAge data in addition to medical history were much more accurate in predicting six-month survival.

Why biological age beats Chronological age.

Historic age does not necessarily equate to a person's true state of health. A marathon runner who is 70 but sedentary in all other activities may be 40 biologically. FaceAge captures this nuance.

In the study, cancer patients seemed, on average, about five years older than they actually were. This age discrepancy was strongly associated with lower survival rates. Importantly, FaceAge scores were also related to senescence genes, those already implicated in cellular aging and cancer development, but historical age wasn't so genetically related.

Could FaceAge revolutionize cancer treatment?

FaceAge may change how physicians assess patient health and determine treatments. Providing a measurable, image-based indicator of aging, it may be able to tailor medicine, guide clinical trial eligibility, and reduce bias in diagnostic tests.

However, the scientists' caution, having thus far confirmed the method on mostly white populations, is that they require more study in multi-racial populations to verify accuracy across the board before it is universally adopted in hospitals.

Ethical concerns: Is facial analysis using AI safe?

FaceAge's potential also comes with ethical and privacy concerns. There is a risk that facial data could be misused by insurers or employers. Moreover, AI predictions could be skewed by the color of skin, facial contours, or cosmetic procedures, leading to discriminatory results.

Specialists urge the establishment of stronger oversight mechanisms and further investigation to ensure that AI technologies like FaceAge are transparent, fair, and secure to everyone.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Muhammad Faisal Arshad/MSM)