{"id":150736,"date":"2026-02-03T09:37:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T14:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736//?p=150736"},"modified":"2026-03-13T13:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:13:08","slug":"could-ai-lead-to-the-fountain-of-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736//could-ai-lead-to-the-fountain-of-youth/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736//","title":{"rendered":"Could AI Lead to The Fountain of Youth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day, Yu Tian clocks in to his AI and Imaging in Medicine (AIM) Research Lab at UCF working to change life as we know it./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cWe often hear that /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2018we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019re at a turning point in human history,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d Tian says, /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cand with AI research in a university setting like this, it/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019s true./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

This is just one example of AI innovations at UCF. Learn about more at the Spring 2026 AI Research Day on Friday, Feb. 6./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

Tian has adapted quickly /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2014 and gladly /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2014 to life at UCF since arriving last May to teach computer science. He is now living what he once imagined as the idyllic scenario: talented artificial intelligence (AI) specialists coming from around the world to collaborate with medical experts and launch new projects, pressing each other through formidable challenges and achieving the unachievable./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cThe ultimate goal for my team is to extend people/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019s lives, significantly,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d Tian says./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

Assembling a Dream Team/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

Tian/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019s ambition has eluded human pursuits for millennia. Even medical AI has barely begun to approach its potential impact /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2014 especially when compared with other AI applications like chatbots and fintech./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cThere are two major limitations with medical AI,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d Tian says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cOne is the privacy of data /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2014 AI requires a lot of data. The other issue holding back progress is collaboration. Computer scientists working on AI typically don/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019t know medicine. We need input from doctors and biologists. In that sense, universities are uniquely positioned.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

“Universities bring together computer scientists, physicians and hospitals /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2014 allowing us to identify clinically meaningful problems, access real-world data responsibly and develop solutions that are grounded in medical practice./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

With all of this available to his AIM team, they/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019ve been building a system that can learn from each patient/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019s history, exams, MRIs, CTs and life information. Given the copious amount of data, the AI model would then predict the person/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019s future medical trajectory./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

For example, a doctor could know the probability of dementia five years before onset. An oncologist could use MRI scans to determine the gene mutation associated with a tumor within seconds rather than performing surgery and then waiting weeks for the results of a genome test./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

Diseases would be preventable. Treatment plans would be more effective and less costly. People would be healthier, happier and live longer./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

How close are we?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cClose,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d Tian says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cIt/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019s sometimes hard for me to believe, too./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

At the Forefront of AI/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

As recently as 2020, Tian didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019t give much thought to topics like longevity or the location of Orlando./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

While working to complete his Ph.D., Tian had immersed himself in familiar computer-science objectives at the 海角直播 of Adelaide in Australia. Day and night, the lab became a replacement for the home he/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019d left on the Chinese peninsula of Liaodong. In just three years, he published more than 15 papers./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

Yet something was missing: a greater purpose./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cI/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019ve always wanted to discover a solution to a mystery that has never been solved,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d he says./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n

He didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u2019t know what that mystery might be until an advisor asked him, /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201cDo you want to work on fun AI video projects, or do you want to really impact lives?/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/150736/n