AI development for biological age and cancer prognosis

Researchers have introduced a new artificial intelligence system, Foundation Artificial Intelligence for Health Recognition-Face (FAHR-Face), designed to assess biological age and predict cancer survival through facial analysis.

Developed by scientists at Mass General Brigham Hospital and trained on a dataset of over 40 million photographs, the system utilizes two distinct models: FAHR-FaceAge, which estimates biological age by analyzing facial features such as the forehead and temples, and FAHR-FaceSurvival, which focuses on areas like the eyes and nose to assist in oncology prognosis.

In a study published in ‘The Lancet Digital Health’, researchers tested the system using a dataset of cancer patients from a research center in the Netherlands. The study suggests the AI provides a non-invasive assessment of cellular and organ system function and claims to be the first report of an algorithm capable of directly predicting cancer patient survival from a simple photograph. The research also noted that lifestyle factors, specifically smoking, showed strong correlations with higher biological age assessments.