Microsoft previews Copilot Health AI tool
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Microsoft on Thursday announced Copilot Health, a new AI service that lets users upload electronic health records and data from fitness trackers and other devices.
Why it matters: Microsoft is entering one of AI's fastest-growing arenas — health care — as OpenAI, Amazon and others expand their medical chatbot offerings.
Driving the news: Microsoft said Copilot Health will let users combine medical records, lab results and wearable data — including from Apple Health, Oura and Fitbit — and have the system analyze it to generate personalized insights.
The big picture: OpenAI announced ChatGPT Health in January, while Amazon on Tuesday said it was expanding access to its health chatbot, which previously was limited to customers of its One Medical service.
Zoom in: Copilot Health can draw on records from more than 50,000 U.S. health providers and data from 50 different types of wearable devices, Microsoft said.
- The tool can help users understand test results, identify trends in sleep, activity or vital signs and prepare questions for doctors ahead of appointments.
- For now, the service will be free and limited to U.S. users, with access granted through a waitlist for early testing. Eventually, Microsoft sees this becoming a paid service.
Threat level: Copilot Health conversations are kept separate from general Copilot chats and encrypted, Microsoft said.
- The company added that health data will not be used to train its AI models.
What they're saying: "This is going to be the most important application of AI, full stop," Microsoft AI head Mustafa Suleyman said in an interview. "It is already something that we get 50 million queries about every single day," he added, pointing to recent data shared first with Axios.
Between the lines: Suleyman argued Microsoft's long track record in health care and its experience handling sensitive data give it an edge over AI rivals.
- "We are, I think, a trusted brand, because Microsoft is old and wise, stable and committed for the very long term," he told Axios.
Suleyman said Microsoft sees Copilot Health as the "first steps towards a medical superintelligence," an always-on assistant that can synthesize records, wearables and lab results into personalized guidance.
- "I'm one of the very few privileged elites that gets access to a concierge doctor ... and that is like a magical privilege," he said. "I truly believe that this is going to be the thing that we make available to everybody at a very affordable price in the next few years."
What we're watching: Whether people are willing to hand over their full medical histories to an AI system may determine how far Microsoft and other AI companies get in their health care push.
