Microsoft Collab to Build World’s Largest Pathology, Oncology Imaging AI

Microsoft and healthcare technology company Paige have launched a partnership to create the world’s largest image-based artificial intelligence (AI) models for digital pathology and oncology.

The work aims to transform cancer diagnosis and patient care, building on existing innovations in the field by both companies.

Paige had previously developed a Large Foundation Model trained on more than one billion images from approximately half a million pathology slides of multiple different cancers, according to the press release.

The collaboration will expand on this work by developing an image-based AI model “orders-of-magnitude larger” than existing models and trained using billions of parameters. In doing so, the model is designed to help capture subtle features within cancer images and advance pathology and oncology.

“Paige has been at the forefront of innovation since its inception, and by combining Microsoft’s expertise and enormous compute power with Paige’s deep expertise in AI, technology, and digital pathology, we strongly believe we will significantly advance the state-of-the-art in cancer imaging. Through the development of this model, we will help improve the lives of the millions of people who are affected by cancer every day,” said Razik Yousfi, SVP of Technology at Paige, in the press release.

The model will incorporate up to four million digitized microscopy slides across multiple cancer types from Paige’s archive of clinical data. From there, Microsoft will provide supercomputing infrastructure and expertise to train the model at scale and deploy it to health systems.

“By combining Microsoft’s world-class research and cloud infrastructure with Paige’s deep expertise and large-scale data, we are creating new AI models that will enable unprecedented insights into the pathology of cancer,” said Desney Tan, vice president and managing director, Microsoft Health Futures, “Unleashing the power of AI is a game changer in advancing healthcare to improve lives.”

This is the latest effort Microsoft has undertaken to advance AI in healthcare.

In August, the company launched a generative AI partnership with Duke Health to explore how the technology can improve care and bolster health equity.

The two organizations are set to develop novel AI-based solutions for various use cases, including tools to assist with personalized patient education and automate administrative tasks to reduce staff workloads.

The five-year collaboration will also support the establishment of a Duke Health AI Innovation Lab and Center of Excellence.