Microsoft Corp. is updating its Copilot artificial intelligence assistant with a new tool designed to answer users’ medical questions.

Copilot Health became available today through a waitlist open to U.S. adults. Microsoft plans to expand access over time, as well as add support for languages other than English.

The updated assistant takes the form of a new Copilot interface section into which consumers can enter medical inquiries. According to Microsoft, the tool can explain lab results and help users prepare questions ahead of a doctor’s appointment. It also functions as a search engine. Copilot Health finds physicians based on parameters such as location, specialty and whether they accept the user’s insurance.

“We’ve improved the quality and reliability of answers by elevating information from credible health organizations across 50 countries, as verified by our clinical team using principles independently established by the National Academy of Medicine,” five Microsoft staffers wrote in a blog post today.

Users can further enhance Copilot Health’s responses by giving it access to their medical information. The tool integrates with a cloud platform called HealthEx that aggregates data from U.S. healthcare providers. When the integration is active, Copilot Health can incorporate information such as doctor’s visit summaries into its responses.

Another connector enables the platform to pull lab results from Function Health Inc., a venture-backed medical testing provider. Additionally, Copilot Health integrates with more than 50 wearables including the Apple Watch. Such devices track the wearer’s heart rate, skin temperature and other biometric details along with higher-level information such as sleep patterns.

Copilot Health stores users’ health data separately from nonmedical chat logs. Microsoft says that it encrypts the information both at rest and in motion. Additionally, the tool provides controls that enable users to delete their Copilot Health history and disconnect the tool from any third-party services or wearables with which they integrated it.

Microsoft is the third major tech firm to have launched a personal health AI since the start of the year.

In early January, OpenAI Group PBC introduced a tool called ChatGPT Health. It offers many of the same features as Copilot Health. ChatGPT Health integrates third-party clinical data sources and stores medical information in an isolated environment.

Shortly after OpenAI debuted the tool, Amazon.com Inc. joined the fray by debuting Health AI. This past Tuesday, the company made the tool available via its e-commerce website and app. Health AI can perform several tasks that aren’t supported by Copilot Health including prescription renewal management.

Anthropic PBC also introduced new personal health features recently. They enable Claude to access medical data from HealthEx and Function, two of the services with which Copilot Health integrates. Anthropic debuted the integrations in January alongside a set of Claude tools designed to automate repetitive work for healthcare professionals.

Image: Microsoft