Copilot Health analyses health records, history and wearable data to generate answers to queries.
Consumers have long used AI chatbots for healthcare queries. Despite concerns around its effectiveness, AI giants are making more dedicated tools to deal with sensitive questions.
Yesterday (12 March), Microsoft introduced Copilot Health, a separate, “secure space” within the Copilot platform where users can upload medical information and ask queries. Copilot Health, according to the company, brings together health records, wearable data, and health history into one place.
“We’re approaching the dawn of medical ‘superintelligence’ – the moment when affordable, world-class medical knowledge and support is at your fingertips whenever you need it,” commented Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, in a post on X.
Microsoft – as well as the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, with similar tools – maintain that AI chatbots are not a replacement for doctors, but rather something that helps users better understand their health data. Amazon has also launched a similar tool, and all of them promise privacy and security.
According to OpenAI, more than 230m people globally asked ChatGPT health and wellness-related questions weekly. By far the biggest AI chatbot, with more than 900m weekly users, ChatGPT’s trends are a strong indicator on overall consumer behaviour around AI usage.
While it is generally understood that AI systems don’t actually ‘understand’ information, models are increasingly being deployed in sensitive areas such as healthcare for large-scale data analysis, this even as growing concerns around data privacy from the service providers and third parties mount, as well as documented cases of AI ‘psychosis’, isolation and unhealthy habits.
Despite the concerns, as pointed out by Forrester principal analyst Arielle Trzcinski, Big Tech is winning this race over traditional healthcare providers.
“Providers that delay embedding similar tools into their own digital front doors risk losing influence over patient decisions – not because any one tool is perfect, but because they’re available,” Trzcinski said.
“These announcements signal a shift in how consumers think about access. These experiences must now offer continuous, AI‑mediated guidance.”
Forrester found that consumers responded equally favourably in terms of trust to AI tools offered by healthcare providers and public AI tools.
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