Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman: AI can provide complex medical support, diagnoses

Microsoft says its AI can now outperform doctors in diagnosing complex medical cases.

"We already have 50 million health-related queries per day coming through Copilot and Bing," Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid. "Our goal is to provide the most high quality, most accurate, and ultimately the cheapest health advice and support."

The six-year relationship between Microsoft (MSFT) and Sam Altman's OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) is widely seen as one of the most successful tie-ups in recent memory. Microsoft has invested close to $14 billion in the ChatGPT maker, gaining access to its models. OpenAI has leveraged Microsoft's computing power to feed its ever-more-powerful models.

OpenAI has gone on to raise billions, with its last round in March valuing it at $300 billion. The company's valuation has since climbed to $325 billion, according to Yahoo Finance private company data.

Since disclosing an initial $1 billion investment in OpenAI on July 22, 2019, Microsoft shares are up 263%. The S&P 500 has gained 107%.

In new research, the tech giant said the Microsoft AI Diagnostics Orchestrator (MAI-Dx0) can correctly diagnose up to 85% of the New England Journal of Medicine's case proceedings. That rate is more than four times higher than a group of experienced physicians. The best-performing MAI-DxO was paired with OpenAI's o3 model.

Users shouldn't say goodbye to their doctors just yet. "Your physician will be there to make the right judgment call at the right time, to plan treatment after diagnosis and to oversee and hold the AI accountable," Suleyman said.

Recently, the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI has begun to sour. OpenAI wants Microsoft to ease up its hold on its AI offerings and allow for its conversion to a for-profit company.

The pact between the two is slated to last until 2030 but could end earlier if OpenAI's board declares it has developed artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Suleyman downplayed any tension in the partnership.

"The relationship's in pretty good shape," he said. "It's one of the best technology partnerships there has been, and it will continue for at least another five years, hopefully many decades after that."

He acknowledged ongoing discussions around the agreement, describing it as a "very complicated contract," adding that they are part of a healthy, evolving alliance and one "that's definitely going to continue."

Suleyman is one of the most prominent names in artificial intelligence.

He was a co-founder of DeepMind, which Google acquired in 2014. He then became a vice president at Google for several years before leaving in 2022 to found AI startup Inflection.

Suleyman joined Microsoft in his current role in March 2024 after securing a licensing deal for Inflection's core technology. As part of the deal, Suleyman, Inflection co-founder Karén Simonyan, and a majority of its employees joined Microsoft.

At Microsoft, Suleyman now oversees all of its consumer AI products, including the Copilot app, Bing, MSN, and the Edge browser.

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email [email protected].

Francisco Velasquez is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. He can be reached on X and LinkedIn.

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