Artificial Intelligence in Cancer Care: Opportunities, Challenges, and Governance

Experts convened at the NCCN 2025 Annual Conference to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) in cancer care, focusing on governance, opportunities, and challenges. Moderated by Clifford S. Goodman, PhD, the panel explored what makes AI unique in oncology, citing data intensity, multimodal data integration, the rapid pace of drug discovery, and high patient engagement. Current applications highlighted include administrative task reduction through record summarization and ambient listening tools, which are already improving efficiency and reducing clinician burden. Looking ahead, panelists foresee AI playing significant roles in precision medicine, predicting protein folding for drug design, optimizing treatment plans, improving remote patient monitoring for proactive care, enabling cancer interception through early detection, and potentially driving research discovery. However, challenges such as model accuracy, data quality, regulatory lag, ensuring trustworthiness, patient privacy, and ethical considerations remain critical. Robust, multidisciplinary governance frameworks, user engagement from inception, transparency, and a focus on demonstrating value are essential for successful and responsible AI adoption in oncology.