AI predicts 5-year breast cancer risk better than standard tools — but we aren't sure how it works

in the foreground, there's a computer screen showing a mammogram. Blurred in the background, we can see a medical provider in a white coat assisting a patient at a mammogram machine

Artificial intelligence (AI) can pinpoint patients at highest risk of developing breast cancer in the next five years better than a standard risk assessment used in the clinic, a study suggests.

Doctors commonly predict a person's five-year risk of developing breast cancer using models that take into account the person's age, race, ethnicity, family history of breast cancer, and whether they've ever had breast tissue sampled for analysis, due to having suspicious lumps in their breasts. These models also take into account breast density, as assessed through mammograms.