Microsoft: AI system for healthcare "Dragon Copilot" coming in summer

With “Dragon Copilot”, Microsoft wants to further expand AI systems in the healthcare sector. As announced in spring 2024, the software is intended to reduce the workload of hospital staff and improve the quality of patient care. Dragon Copilot will initially be available in the USA and Canada from May, and later in European countries – in Germany in the first clinics from July.

The main functions are similar to those of other AI assistants, such as the Danish company Corti. During the doctor-patient consultation, the AI takes notes and helps with documentation. It also provides information from trustworthy sources. The information can also be transferred to electronic health records – at least in the USA –.

Dragon Copilot is also integrated into Microsoft's data analysis platform “Microsoft Fabric” and is therefore scalable, according to Microsoft. This means that the data can also be analyzed, for example to detect early outbreaks of disease.

Less bureaucracy

In 2021, Microsoft acquired Nuance, which develops the Dragon speech processing software for the healthcare sector. According to Microsoft, Dragon Copilot combines the speech processing capabilities of Dragon Medical One with Dragon Ambient Experience (DAX). This is intended to reduce the administrative pressure on medical professionals so that they can focus more on patient care, explained Joe Petro, Vice President of Microsoft Health, at the software launch.

(mack)