In the latest episode of NCI’s Inside Cancer Careers podcast (titled “The Future of AI and Cancer Research”), CBIIT Director Dr. Tony Kerlavage and NCI Chief Information Officer Mr. Jeff Shilling highlight the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in cancer research as well as the challenges and safety measures associated with its use.

Both Dr. Kerlavage and Mr. Shilling emphasize the need to standardize data, the importance of addressing biases in AI models, and why we need more evaluation on this topic.

The AI field is quickly evolving, and as Dr. Kerlavage states, many industry professionals are not confident that AI is ready to assist with advances in the cancer research arena. Mr. Shilling agrees that growth has been slow in terms of impacting NCI and the general cancer community, but there is progress.

Additional key areas they talk about include:

• AI’s current role in NCI’s research effort and data landscape.
• recruiting talent and competing with Silicon Valley.
• career paths for those entering the data science field.
• advice for those interested in data science’s application to cancer research.

Listen and subscribe to Inside Cancer Careers if you want to learn more about this topic and other ways people are joining the fight against cancer.