Microsoft is aiming for a lofty goal: to become a leading artificial-intelligence chatbot powerhouse and reduce its dependence on its partner, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Mustafa Suleyman, chief executive of Microsoft AI, has reportedly increased staffing at an internal lab as part of this effort.
In an attempt to gain ground on more-advanced rivals, the company is focusing on healthcare as a path where it believes it can deliver an offering superior to what is provided by other major players. This strategy is also intended to build the brand of its assistant, Copilot.
A major update to Copilot is scheduled for release soon, which will incorporate a new collaboration between Microsoft and Harvard Medical School. This new version of Copilot is designed to draw on information from the Harvard Health Publishing arm when responding to user queries about healthcare topics. Microsoft will pay Harvard a licensing fee for the use of this material.
The company’s objective is for Copilot to provide answers that are more in line with the information users might receive from a medical practitioner than what is currently available. According to Dominic King, vice president of health at Microsoft AI, making sure people have access to credible, trustworthy health information tailored to their language and literacy is essential. Part of this goal involves sourcing material from the right places. The ultimate intent is to help users make informed decisions about managing complex conditions, such as diabetes.
It is important to note that experts have previously issued warnings about relying on chatbots for medical advice. A 2024 study found that when 382 medical questions were posed to the chatbot ChatGPT, it provided an “inappropriate” answer on approximately 20% of those questions.
