As a teacher, my exposure to AI — Artificial Intelligence — is limited to checking student essays to see if they were written by ChatGPT.  Well, that and seeing people on Facebook panicking and posting stuff like: “It’s gonna be like ‘The Terminator’!! We’re all doomed!!”

I’m sure that AI — like any new technology — is going to have its advantages and drawbacks. Today, I’d like to mention something positive about AI, and that is how it can possibly help in detecting and treating cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), AI has advanced to the point where it can aid in cancer treatment and research. Including:

Advancing fundamental knowledge of cancer biology

Expediting cancer screening, detection, and diagnosis

Predicting responses to cancer drugs

Improving cancer surveillance

Improving access to cancer care

The article linked to in the second paragraph goes into more detail as to how advances in AI could potentially aid in cancer care. As anyone who’s had to deal with cancer will tell you: early detection is very important. Hopefully AI can help doctors do just that.

If you are interested, here are some other bits of news regarding cancer treatment and artificial intelligence from the National Institutes of Health, the Mayo Clinic, and the Stanford Cancer Institute.