Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence system that can predict how long a person will live simply by looking at the images of their organs. The system, developed by researchers from University of Adelaide in Australia, analysed the medical imaging of 48 patients' chests and was able to predict which of them would die within five years, with 69 per cent accuracy.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, has implications for the early diagnosis of serious illness and medical intervention.
While the researchers could not identify exactly what the computer system was seeing in the images to make its predictions, the most confident predictions were made for patients with severe chronic diseases such as emphysema and congestive heart failure.
The researchers hope to apply the same techniques to predict other important medical conditions, such as the onset of heart attacks.