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Professor Watanabe and his colleagues' demonstration project for "Lantern," an AI-powered interactive cancer consultation service, won third place in the GENIAC-PRIZE at theItabashi Campus

On March 24, 2026 (Tuesday), a research project led by Professor Kiyotaka Watanabe of the Department Internal Medicine School of Medicine developed and conducted a demonstration study of "Lantern," an AI-powered interactive cancer consultation service. The results of this project were awarded third place in the Customer Support Productivity Improvement category of the AI Agent Development for Solving Social Issues program, a prize-funded program of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and NEDO.
In recent years, the settings for cancer treatment and care have expanded from hospitals to homes and communities, giving patients and their families more opportunities to gather information themselves and make choices regarding treatment and lifestyle. However, information about cancer is highly specialized, and there is a lot of unreliable information on the internet with little medical evidence, making it difficult to know "what" to consult and "who" to consult. Therefore, "Lantern" was developed with the aim of providing cancer patients and their families with reliable, easy-to-understand, and compassionate information based on information sources supervised by experts such as domestic and international clinical guidelines, and to connect them with medical institutions that provide high-quality cancer care and consultation support centers. From November 2025, a pilot study was conducted targeting 529 pharmacists nationwide, and efforts were made to implement AI-based methods for detecting and suppressing the generation of misinformation, demonstrating the potential to suppress serious misinformation.

Researcher's comments

Kiyotaka Watanabe, Professor Department Internal Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine
The internet is overflowing with information, but much of it is inaccurate. For cancer patients and their families, information is essential when making decisions about future treatment and care. We believe that by utilizing AI tools, we can create an opportunity for people to think, "Let's do a little research first," even about things they might be hesitant to ask healthcare professionals, and connect them with the necessary information and experts. By further developing our community-based pilot research, we hope to expand the network of teams supporting cancer patients, ensuring that patients, no matter where they live in the country, can receive safe and effective cancer care based on reliable information, and that they can live their lives with peace of mind.

Going forward, it is expected that collaboration with medical institutions and local governments will lead to further development of activities aimed at improving access to reliable medical information and enhancing the quality of life for cancer patients.

Click here for more information about Professor Kiyotaka Watanabe.
Click here for information on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and NEDO program "GENIAC-PRIZE".
Click here for "Lantern," an AI-powered interactive cancer consultation service.

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