Microsoft has unveiled Dragon Copilot, an artificial intelligence-driven assistant designed to revolutionize healthcare. This innovative system leverages voice dictation and ambient listening technologies acquired from Nuance, the AI voice company Microsoft purchased in 2021. Dragon Copilot aims to streamline clinical documentation and enhance patient care.
According to Microsoft, Dragon Copilot offers features such as “multilanguage ambient note creation” and natural language dictation. Its AI assistant can conduct “general-purpose medical information searches from trusted content sources” and automate tasks like conversational orders, clinical summaries, and referral letters.
Joe Petro, Microsoft VP of Microsoft Health and Life Sciences Solutions and Platforms, emphasizes the goal is to alleviate clinicians’ administrative burden, allowing them to focus on patient care. Microsoft’s research suggests that clinicians using Nuance technology, integrated into Dragon Copilot, report reduced burnout, with 93 percent of patients indicating a “better overall experience.”
The introduction of Dragon Copilot aligns with the broader trend of tech companies offering AI solutions in healthcare. Google Cloud, for example, is working with healthcare firms to create AI agents for risk assessment and image-searching, while Microsoft emphasizes its “commitment to developing responsible AI.” The FDA has also issued guidelines concerning generative AI in healthcare, acknowledging both its potential benefits and risks, specifically the possibility of inaccuracies.
Such inaccuracies have been observed elsewhere, with OpenAI Whisper-powered medical transcription software facing similar challenges. As Microsoft rolls out Dragon Copilot they say that its “capabilities are built on a secure data estate and incorporate healthcare-specific clinical, chat and compliance safeguards for accurate and safe AI outputs.”
