Key points from article :
AI is poised to accelerate major breakthroughs in longevity research, but scientists say the field is still limited by a lack of comprehensive biological and demographic data. At the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh, experts emphasized that aging begins much earlier than the point at which most healthcare systems start screening, making it difficult to understand how aging unfolds across different stages of life. HRH Princess Dr. Haya bint Khaled bin Bandar Al Saud of the Hevolution Foundation noted that to extend “healthspan” rather than just lifespan, researchers need earlier and broader datasets to identify when interventions would be most effective.
Biotech companies are increasingly leveraging AI to identify new therapeutic targets and design drugs that could influence both disease processes and the biology of aging. Alex Zhavoronkov, founder of Insilico Medicine, described ongoing efforts to develop “dual purpose” drugs that simultaneously treat illness and slow or reverse aging biomarkers. He suggested that the approval of the first AI-discovered therapy that also shows credible anti-aging effects in clinical trials would mark a major milestone for the field, signalling that aging may be modifiable in a controlled and measurable way.
However, as AI tools expand their influence, the issue of data gaps becomes even more pressing. Sophie Smith of NABTA Health pointed out that clinical research historically excluded women—and today, fewer than 1% of trial participants come from Middle Eastern, South Asian, or African backgrounds. This imbalance is especially problematic given that men and women follow distinct aging trajectories. For example, women often spend much of mid-life in poorer health due to hormonal and diagnostic factors, only experiencing improved health later in life, which contrasts sharply with patterns assumed from male-only data.
Closing these data gaps will require redesigning how health information is collected globally and ensuring that clinical trials reflect diverse populations. As experts noted, the future of longevity science is not just about extending how long we live, but improving the quality and equity of those added years—so that advancements in aging research benefit everyone, not just the groups historically represented in medical datasets.
