From Patient to Provider: How AI Can Shape Treatment

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to lead to innovative treatment plans and discoveries in the world of cancer treatment. For example, integrations between AI and non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and ovarian cancer have been made over the last few years, and some physicians are utilizing AI for administrative tasks as well, such as transcribing subjective, objective, assessment, plan (SOAP) notes during patient visits.

At the 2025 North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) Symposium, Burt Rosen, director of marketing innovations for Oregon State University and a patient with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET) and renal clear cell carcinoma (RCCC), hosted a session titled "AI from the Patient Perspective."¹

In an interview with Targeted Oncology®, Rosen explained his relationship to AI as a cancer patient, how he believes providers should be talking about it, and the future of AI in cancer.

Targeted Oncology: How have you used AI through the course of your disease?

Burt Rosen: I’ve used AI quite a bit. ChatGPT became public in November of 2023, so I started about March of 2024 and now I use it for everything. I’ve used it to translate reporting into plain English so I can understand it. I’ve used it to do trending work. I’ve used it to correlate symptoms with treatments and things of that nature. I’ve used it to combine data sets. For example, I spend a lot of my time with integrative oncology. I’ve had it build treatment plans for me that are both conventional neuroendocrine treatments aligned with integrative oncology. I’ve used it in a lot of ways in addition to asking questions.

Have you seen the use of AI as a positive or a negative?

I think it’s a huge positive, and I think the potential for it is huge, and it’s going to revolutionize pretty much the way we do anything. But in health care, I think it’s going to be able to supplement what our doctors are currently capable of. I think one of the biggest challenges for AI is human beings admitting that we can’t do everything, but supplementing what we can’t do with machine learning that comes out of AI. The capabilities of AI are going to help us in ways we haven’t imagined. What I’m probably most excited about and why I’m so positive on them is that we treat those diseases based on population health theories and research, but AI is going to get us to truly individualize that. So if AI is going to understand exactly who Burt Rosen is as a person, what I eat, where I live, how many kids I have, the stress I have, what all my diagnoses are, what all my reporting and my tests are, and then I’ll ultimately be able to get treated based on that profile of me.

What would you want your providers to know about AI from the patient perspective?

I would like them to know that I use it. One of the things I’m going to add tomorrow when I speak is, I would love if every provider said to their patients, do you use AI? And how are you using it? So they have a better understanding of how the patients are interacting. I think it’s important that the providers start to look at AI as a valuable input over time, as opposed to a whole separate discipline. I honestly see AI as a part of my care team. In a couple years, it’ll be the only entity aside from me who knows everything I’m doing, every choice I’m making, all those things. So I think the more clinicians can be curious about how patients are using AI now, the better it’s going to be as AI gets more and more advanced.

REFERENCE:

1. Rosen B. AI from the patient perspective. Presented at: 2025 NANETS Symposium; October 23-25, 2025; Austin, TX.