Artificial intelligence in cancer diagnostics: a primer for clinicians and scientists

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming cancer care by enabling healthcare teams to make more accurate diagnoses, predict responses to therapy, improve outcomes, and deliver truly personalized treatment. As AI-based tools become increasingly embedded in diagnostic workflows and clinical decision-making, it is essential to understand their potential and limitations to ensure safe and effective adoption. Here, we provide an accessible primer on the integration of AI into cancer diagnosis and treatment response, aimed at oncologists, pathologists, clinical researchers, and healthcare technologists. This primer focuses primarily on AI applications in digital pathology, liquid biopsy, and clinical decision support, while acknowledging related advances in radiology, genomics, and EHR-based analytics. We begin with an introduction to core AI concepts and then examine how AI-driven technologies are becoming an integral part of cancer diagnosis through digital pathology, medical imaging, and liquid biopsy. We further explore AI's expanding role in supporting the cancer care team through a patient's treatment journey, from prognostication and therapy selection through real-time treatment monitoring. Real-world applications and practical implementation strategies are presented, alongside a discussion of the ethical, regulatory, and reproducibility challenges that must be addressed. By providing a structured overview of both the technological advances and the real-world implementation challenges, this commentary aims to engage a broad audience, from oncologists and pathologists to data scientists and policy makers, in navigating the evolving role of AI in cancer care and guiding its responsible integration into clinical practice.