Artificial intelligence is stepping into the fight against cancer — and, according to Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel, it could be a game-changer.
On the Monday episode of “Fox & Friends,” Siegel said AI is already transforming the way doctors detect and treat cancer, and could lead to real cures within the next decade.
“I think in five to 10 years, we’re going to start seeing a lot of cures,” Siegel said, calling this moment in medical science “great news.”
“Artificial intelligence works two ways on cancer,” Siegel said. “First, it helps you diagnose it before it even becomes cancer.”
He pointed to an AI program out of Harvard called Sybil, which analyzes lung scans to identify areas that could later develop into cancer well before a radiologist could see them.
“If AI finds the parts of the lungs that are troublesome, then radiologists can follow up and see this trouble spot is becoming worse,” the doctor said.
The technology doesn’t stop there. Siegel also described how AI is also helping scientists tailor treatments to the individual, identifying “drug targets on the cancer molecule itself, which varies from one cancer patient to the next.”
By matching the right drug to the right patient, AI could help deliver personalized therapies that dramatically improve survival rates, he added.
“AI will tell you this drug will work for this person and not for that one,” Siegel predicted. “That will give cures to many different kinds of cancers over the next five to 10 years.”
Previous research has explored the potential of AI to catch cancers at earlier stages. Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt referenced recent reporting on breast cancer detection, where AI can detect subtle irregularities that doctors might miss.
Siegel agreed, saying, “Using AI together with a great radiologist” can help find cancer “before it ever even becomes cancer.”
While much of the conversation centered on science, Siegel also spoke about faith and hope, which are two themes central to his new book, “The Miracles Among Us.”
He told Earhardt that belief itself can be healing.
“If you commune with people around you who have faith, and you understand that God is a stronger force … you can have less depression, less anxiety,” he said.
Quoting Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Siegel added that medicine and faith can work together.
“Doctors are the hands of God,” he said. “They’ll work together with God to perform miracles that are almost impossible.”
