Microsoft’s latest AI tool is aimed squarely at the medical industry and, surprise surprise, it’s powered by OpenAI’s large language model.
Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Express (opens in new tab) has been designed to compile draft clinical notes in “seconds.” Because it’s designed around speech recognition, it can be used both in-person and via telehealth appointments.
Microsoft hopes that DAX Express will unlock a more positive health environment in which experiences can be more “personal and engaging,” while unlocking otherwise lost time for practitioners to deal with more patients.
Artificial intelligence in healthcare
There’s a lot more to it than OpenAI’s latest generative AI, GPT-4, though. It has been created with existing work by Nuance, a company Microsoft acquired in 2021 which has already been developing its speech recognition and transcription technology, Dragon Medical One.
DAX Express represents a huge advancement over DAX, a similar note-taking tool that works in around four hours.
Not only does Microsoft reckon that it can optimize workload and improve efficiency, but it hopes that DAX Express will enable better adherence to things like follow-ups, enhance patient engagement, and ultimately increase access to care.
In its blog post, Microsoft Corporate VP of Global Healthcare & Life Sciences Tom McGuinness and Nuance Executive VP and Healthcare General Manager Diana Nole liken DAX Express to the “unimaginable breakthroughs and treatments” that have improved healthcare over the past decades. While research continues to deliver improvements, it is hoped that technology could be the next big thing for workers in the industry.
The timeliness has not gone unnoticed, either, with many countries facing significant struggles as they balance healthcare with other services. In the UK, for example, NHS patients have suffered from record delays that could now be partly alleviated by the time-saving tech.
