Doctors have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can predict a cancer patient’s chances of survival from a single photograph of their face. The AI system was custom-built by experts at Mass General Brigham, a nonprofit, integrated academic healthcare system in Massachusetts, to estimate biological age and directly predict survival outcomes in patients diagnosed with cancer.

Breakthrough in AI Health Assessment

This tool represents one of the most comprehensive demonstrations to date of how AI analysis of a selfie could help assess a patient’s health and potentially guide their medical care. The system was trained on data from more than 40 million facial photographs across a range of ethnicities and ages. Details of the breakthrough were published in the Lancet Digital Health journal.

The system can estimate a person’s biological age—the age a person looks, rather than their actual chronological age—and predict the chances of survival for cancer patients from an ordinary photograph of their face, according to the results of a study that examined the model.

Complementary Tools Developed

Doctors used the technology to develop two complementary tools:

  • FAHR-FaceAge estimates a patient’s biological age and predicts cancer survival.
  • FAHR-FaceSurvival predicts survival from a facial photograph directly, rather than inferring survival through biological age.

Although both tools were derived from the same model, they capture different and complementary information about a patient’s health. Each algorithm relies on distinct parts of the face to make respective predictions of age and mortality risk:

  • FAHR-FaceAge focuses on the creases that run from the sides of the nose down to the corners of the mouth, the forehead area just above the eye sockets, and the temples.
  • FAHR-FaceSurvival evaluates the region below the eyes and around the nasal bridge.