Microsoft develops AI tool that can diagnose ‘sequentially’ like a doctor
MSFT•Microsoft researchers say an AI diagnostic tool that works through cases step by step was more than twice as accurate as general physicians on complex medical cases. The researchers will next test its ability to triage patients in emergency department waiting rooms.
1. Step-by-step diagnoses
The tool uses an “orchestrator” to decide what questions to ask, which examinations and tests to order, and whether further testing is needed as it updates its diagnostic hypotheses. Researchers said it was more than twice as accurate as general physicians using textbooks and the internet when tested on more than 300 unusual and confusing medical cases.
2. Further testing planned
The tool also outperformed human physicians on scenarios drawn from a database of emergency room admissions. Researchers found that diagnostic work-ups designed by the orchestrator cost less than those conducted by human doctors. Microsoft AI is collaborating with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston to test the tool’s ability to triage patients in emergency department waiting rooms.
