Microsoft says AI can outperform doctors when it comes to complex illnesses
A Microsoft-published report titled 'the path to medical superintelligence' claims a pair of advanced AI systems can now surpass human doctors in accurately diagnosing complex medical conditions.
It spotlighted a tool referred to as MAI-DxO (or the 'Microsoft AI Diagnostic Orchestrator' to give it its full name), which the tech giant said can deliver higher diagnostic accuracy and significantly reducing costs for healthcare providers.
MAI-DxO is described as an orchestration engine, drawing on multiple leading AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT, to emulate the collective reasoning of an expert physician panel.
This approach, in recent trials, saw the system achieve above an 80% success rate when handling difficult diagnostic cases, Microsoft said.
It compares spectacularly with human doctors, who are said to arrive at a correct diagnosis 20% of the time when they're unaided.
Microsoft highlighted the AI's ability to ask clinical questions, order tests, and integrate the findings as mimicking the step-by-step approach undertaken by human medical practitioners.
In its report, Microsoft described a familiar facet of medicine. Basically, family doctors are 'generalists' with broad but shallow knowledge across the whole spectrum of physiology and medicine, whilst clinical specialists retain very deep knowledge about a narrow field, and aren't necessarily aware of what they don't know outside of their expertise.
"AI, on the other hand, doesn’t face this trade-off," Microsoft said in the report.
"It can blend both breadth and depth of expertise, demonstrating clinical reasoning capabilities that, across many aspects of clinical reasoning, exceed those of any individual physician."
"This kind of reasoning has the potential to reshape healthcare."
Despite the obvious optimism, Microsoft is treading carefully.
It says AI won’t replace the empathy, context, and trust-building that human physicians provide. And, it notes that AI systems must gain trust in order to make a true impact.
