Microsoft’s AI already diagnoses better than doctors – should we be afraid?

Microsoft presented an AI system that showed higher accuracy in difficult medical diagnoses than practicing doctors. Using the OpenAI o3 model, the system solved more than 80% of cases from the New England Journal of Medicine collection – while doctors without access to resources managed only 20%.

Microsoft’s new development is called AI Diagnostic Orchestrator. The system works in the “panel of experts” mode – analyzing complex clinical cases from the positions of different medical specializations. In testing, it not only turned out to be more accurate than people, but also reduced the overall cost of diagnosis in each case.

• Microsoft borrowed these cases from one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world – NEJM. They were specially selected as the most difficult to diagnose. In the control group, doctors without the Internet and books were able to give the correct answer only in 2 out of 10 cases, while the AI ​​correctly analyzed more than 8.

The developers emphasize: no single doctor can cover the entire volume of knowledge and practice that is available to the neural network. Thanks to the synthesis of depth and breadth of knowledge, the AI ​​​​demonstrated a higher level of clinical thinking than any specialist.

Microsoft has been working on the system since the end of 2024, and is now submitting the study for review. The main goal is to reformat healthcare, making it more accessible and accurate. After all, the US spends almost 20% of GDP on medicine, but the effectiveness often remains low.

The head of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleiman, told The Guardian that within 5–10 years, these systems will become almost infallible, which will relieve a significant burden on hospitals and patients around the world. However, the company reassures the medical community: AI will not replace people, but only complement them. After all, building trust with patients, ethics and emotional contact are areas in which machines are still far from humans.

And although the system has not yet entered the practical plane, AI Diagnostic Orchestrator has already proven that it can change the rules of the game in medicine. In the context of the growing need for accurate and inexpensive diagnostics, AI is becoming a real ally, not a competitor to the doctor. The key is to integrate technologies in such a way that the patient wins, and the specialist does not lose his role.