Microsoft announced results for its MAI-DxO diagnostic system on Oct. 22, alongside work it said was published that day in Science. In a simulation using complex cases from The New England Journal of Medicine, the system got 83% right, compared with 36% for primary care doctors and general internists working individually with reference materials, Rebecca Bellan reported for TechCrunch. Specialists and physician teams, who usually handle cases this complex, were not part of that comparison, Bellan noted.
MAI-DxO coordinates several AI agents that act like a panel of doctors: They question a patient, order tests and debate a diagnosis. The reported scores come from simulated cases, not from treating patients.
The models behind the result
TechCrunch's reading of the study's data suggests that stronger underlying AI models account for much of the improvement, with Microsoft's coordination system adding gains on top. Bellan reports that GPT-5 scored 78.9% on complex cases on its own; DxO raised its accuracy by about four percentage points. In a different configuration, GPT-5.5 went from 72% alone to nearly 87% with DxO. Those figures compare AI configurations, not the system with physicians.
Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman called the result a step toward “medical superintelligence.” TechCrunch reports that Microsoft has partnered with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to evaluate DxO across hospital settings. Microsoft health vice president Dominic King described a plan in which consenting patients would receive standard treatment and engage with DxO in parallel. Its recommendations would then be compared with those of doctors.
Comments