Face: An AI Tool That Reveals Biological Age from a Single Photo | Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Name: Face.

Year: New.

Exterior: A device designed to estimate your life expectancy.

So, is it going to tell me when I’ll die? No, thank you. Hold on, let me explain.

Not a problem, but that still sounds pretty terrifying. Just give me a moment. It operates similarly to what your doctor does.

Which is what? We will analyze your photos to evaluate your health.

Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad. However, this device can assess you even more accurately. It can also help predict your response to treatments.

Nope, I’m out again. Let me elaborate. Faceage is an AI innovation developed by scientists at Mass General Brigham in Boston. By examining a picture of your face, it can assess your biological age compared to your chronological age.

What does that imply? It means everyone ages differently. For instance, at 50, Paul Rudd had a biological age of 43, while fellow actor Wilford Brimley was biologically 69 at the same age.

Why is this significant? Individuals with older biological ages are less likely to withstand intensive treatments like radiation therapy.

Explain it to me as if I’m clueless. Sure thing. The older your face looks, the worse it is for your health.

Great, just what I needed to hear about my premature grey hairs. Actually, not exactly. Features like gray hair or hair loss can be misleading. This device evaluates factors like skin folding near the mouth and temple hollows for a more accurate health profile.

Wonderful, now I have to obsessively analyze my temple’s condition. No, this is beneficial. With proper usage, such diagnostic tools can enhance countless lives. Although the initial study focused on cancer patients, researchers intend to broaden the tests to others.

I just had plastic surgery. Will Faceage still work for me? As of now, it’s unclear. The developers still need to investigate this.

What about for people of color? Ah, yes. This model was predominantly trained on white faces, so its effectiveness on diverse skin tones is still uncertain.

This sounds a bit concerning. It’s simply a cautionary issue. Let’s consider how quickly AI evolves. Just last year, ChatGPT was lacking but has now transformed industries. We can expect Faceage to improve rapidly, too.

That’s encouraging. Indeed. Before long, it could assess your face and provide a calm, unbiased judgment on your health and longevity.

Is this for real? No, definitely not. At least, not yet.

Say: “Faceage represents a new frontier in medical diagnostics.”

Don’t say: “They claim we’ll perish during the 2028 robot uprising.”