Microsoft and Paige team up to develop world's largest cancer-fighting AI model

Tech giant Microsoft has joined hands with Paige, a digital pathology provider, to build world’s largest image-based artificial intelligence (AI) models that can fight against cancer.

The new AI model is orders-of-magnitude larger than any other image-based AI model existing today, configured with billions of parameters, the companies said. 

It will assist in capturing the subtle complexities of cancer and serve as the cornerstone for the next generation of clinical applications and computational biomarkers that push the boundaries of oncology and pathology.

The AI model can identify both common cancers and rare cancers that are notoriously difficult to diagnose.

“We are creating new AI models that will enable unprecedented insights into the pathology of cancer. Unleashing the power of AI is a game changer in advancing healthcare to improve lives,” said Desney Tan, Vice President and Managing Director, Microsoft Health Futures, in a statement. 

Paige, a global leader in end-to-end digital pathology solutions and clinical AI, developed the first large foundation model using over one billion images from half a million pathology slides across multiple cancer types. 

In the next phase of development, Paige is incorporating up to four million digitised microscopy slides across multiple types of cancer from its unmatched petabyte-scale archive of clinical data. Paige will utilise Microsoft’s advanced supercomputing infrastructure to train the technology at scale and ultimately deploy it to hospitals and laboratories across the globe using Azure.

“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 statement.