hat if your AI knew everything your doctor does? As tech companies race to work on that idea, Microsoft has become the latest to throw its hat in the ring.

On Thursday, Microsoft launched Copilot Health, a separate space within Copilot that acts as a hub for all of your AI-powered medical assistance needs. It can use all of your health data, including from wearables, US hospital health records, provider organizations, and even lab test results, to provide insights and answer questions.

“We are really on the cusp of building a true medical superintelligence, one that can learn everything about you, all of your health conditions from your wearable data, your electronic health records, and use that to provide support and insights and intelligence at your fingertips,” said Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft AI CEO, in a press briefing.

While Microsoft Copilot already answers 50 million consumer health questions daily, with this experience, Microsoft aimed to improve the quality of responses with:

• Information from credible health organizations across 50 countries
• Clear citations to source materials
• Expert-written cards from Harvard Health
• Assistance with connecting to doctors who accept insurance

To quell concerns about reliability and security, Microsoft shared that Copilot Health was developed with an internal clinical team and informed by an external panel of over 230 physicians and that data is protected with “industry-leading safeguards.”

A standout to me was that you can only access Copilot Health in its siloed space, with your health queries never mixed into your regular Copilot experience, and that it prioritizes user consent when accessing health data. It is being rolled out to users via a waitlist to ensure maximum precaution.

Our Deeper View

This product is a direct response to similar offerings from competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and it appears to be a good strategy, given demand. OpenAI has previously said 40 million people worldwide rely on ChatGPT daily for medical advice, a number comparable to the 50 million daily queries Microsoft touted. Amazon announced this week that its Health AI solution, which originally launched only in One Medical, had such strong demand that the company expanded access on the Amazon website and app. If people are organically turning to AI to help navigate health queries, then it is only logical to allow them to connect their personal data and get much better and more accurate results.