Artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine is not strictly new. After all, IBM (IBM) did it with Watson as far back as 2011. So it should be no surprise that tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) wants a piece of that action as well. It is working on a new AI it declares “smarter-than-human” with an eye toward making medical diagnoses. This did not sit well with investors, though, as shares slipped fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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We heard recently about the formation of the MAI Superintelligence Team, which will be used to help further Microsoft’s ambitions in the AI space. But there are some more specific plans connected to that development that recently emerged. Microsoft is not looking to create a generalist AI, not even one that is “infinitely capable.” In fact, such a development actually worries Microsoft, which is saying something in and of itself.
Rather, Microsoft wants to pursue highly specialized AI that focus on specific tasks and do them at “superhuman” levels. Such a tool would basically be able to pin down medical diagnoses with incredible accuracy given a handful of observations, for example, but would have no idea how to interact with a political system or do anything that might threaten anyone. In fact, Microsoft believes that it is about two to three years out from a medically-themed superintelligence system that can perform at those superhuman levels, able to detect disease and reason its way through problems much more rapidly than a human.
Dev Kits Get Updates
Meanwhile, the latest development kit for the Xbox platform has emerged, and comes with a slate of new updates. In fact, the mere fact that there is anything of note in a dev kit update is exciting, because that seldom happens. Most dev kit updates are quiet, with little for the end user. However, this release is different.
One new wrinkle is GameInput, a tool that allows for several different peripherals to be put to use. Keyboard and mouse support will be included here, and if that does not scream “the next Xbox will be like a gaming PC,” it is hard to tell what does. PlayFab Game Saves, meanwhile, underscore the potential for Steam support, as cross-saves between Xbox and PC are now supported.
Is Microsoft a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 34 Buys assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 17.65% rally in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $633.14 per share implies 27.6% upside potential.
