Microsoft taps Harvard for Copilot health queries as OpenAI reliance eases: Report

Microsoft is partnering with Harvard Medical School to enhance its Copilot AI assistant with health content, as part of a broader effort to reduce its dependence on ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Copilot, following an update scheduled for release as soon as this month, is set to use Harvard Health Publishing information to respond to healthcare queries, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Microsoft will pay Harvard a licensing fee, the report added.

In an interview with the Journal, Dominic King, vice president of health at Microsoft AI, said that the company’s aim is for Copilot to serve answers that are more in line with the information users might get from a medical practitioner than what is currently available.

Harvard did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Microsoft declined to comment on the report.

Copilot so far has been primarily using OpenAI’s models across its suite of applications, such as Word and Outlook, and — in an effort to reduce its reliance on the startup — Microsoft has started using Anthropic’s Claude and is currently developing its own AI models.