Microsoft entered healthcare nearly 20 years ago and is now incorporating AI into its cloud solutions to automate hospital operations. In 2022, it acquired Nuance, an ambient intelligence company dominating the AI-powered medical scribing market, for nearly $20 billion, though Nuance faces competition from startups like $2. 75 billion Abridge. Microsoft's recent launch, Dragon Copilot, combines its voice dictation technology with Nuance's ambient listening, aiming to save doctors time documenting patient visits. An October 2024 KLAS report found most healthcare organizations consider Nuance for clinical documentation due to Microsoft's healthcare software suite and prior contracts. Microsoft is integrating AI into other healthcare cloud services to organize medical records and automate tasks such as patient scheduling. Microsoft also collaborates with Nvidia, integrating Nvidia’s AI technology with its cloud solutions to advance healthcare research and improve medical imaging. Meanwhile, Apple’s healthcare AI efforts have been more subdued. Apple’s main healthcare focus has been the Apple Watch, which includes AI-powered features like fall detection, heartbeat irregularity tracking, and sleep analysis. Following the Apple Vision Pro headset release, several healthcare organizations adopted it for surgical plan review and clinician training on new devices. Bloomberg News reported in March that Apple is developing an AI-powered health coach to offer personalized lifestyle advice based on health data captured via Apple Watch and iPhone. Nvidia, focusing on specialties like radiology and drug discovery, partners extensively with healthcare firms. Nvidia’s VP of healthcare, Kimberly Powell, told Business Insider in April that medical imaging has been a key entry point, with partnerships like the March 2024 deal with GE Healthcare to simulate autonomous medical imaging devices. Another collaboration with Mark III involves simulating hospital environments for AI development, reflecting Nvidia’s vision of “physical AI” where hospitals are integrated with AI systems, robots, and smart devices to perform automated tasks. Nvidia also invests in startups such as clinical documentation firm Abridge ($2. 75 billion valuation) and Hippocratic AI ($1. 64 billion valuation). It supports portfolio companies like Moon Surgical, which uses Nvidia’s Holoscan AI platform for surgical robots. Amazon applies AI across its healthcare services for doctors, patients, and pharmaceutical companies. In March, it began beta testing Health AI, a chatbot providing medical advice and directing users to Amazon pharmacy or doctors at its primary care chain, One Medical. Amazon also offers HealthScribe, a medical transcription tool that generates clinical notes from doctor-patient conversations, used alongside features for patient messaging and care coordination at One Medical. Through Amazon Web Services (AWS), its generative AI tools support life sciences companies such as Genentech and AstraZeneca in drug discovery and clinical trials. Despite these efforts, Amazon faced setbacks: it shuttered its telehealth service Amazon Care in 2022 and discontinued Amazon Halo wearable in 2023. One Medical came under scrutiny for patient safety concerns, with Amazon affirming strict quality standards despite legal restrictions on discussing records. Alphabet (Google) develops healthcare AI tools based on Google’s search capabilities, centered on healthcare-specific foundation models. In 2023, Google launched MedLM for summarizing patient-doctor conversations, clinical research, and automating insurance claims.

In October 2024, it unveiled Vertex AI Search for Healthcare, enabling clinicians to query patient records and documents. Google’s research AI assists diagnosis by analyzing medical images and simulating patient interactions. On the consumer side, Google Lens helps users identify skin conditions via photos, and personal health AI models offer wellness guidance using sleep and fitness data. Alphabet’s AI research arm, Isomorphic Labs (spun out of DeepMind), partners with pharma giants Novartis and Eli Lilly for drug development, building on DeepMind’s AlphaFold protein structure work. Dr. Karen DeSalvo, who led Google’s health initiatives since 2019, will retire in August 2024, succeeded by Dr. Michael Howell. Oracle plans to revolutionize electronic medical records using AI, with an AI-powered electronic health record (EHR) system integrating clinical AI agents, search, and analytics set for early adopter release this year. Oracle’s 2022 $28. 3 billion acquisition of Cerner (rebranded Oracle Health) is central to this. However, rollout issues at the Department of Veterans Affairs led to thousands of lost medical orders and delayed treatments, prompting Oracle to fix problematic tech. Oracle also co-leads Stargate, a joint venture with OpenAI, SoftBank, and MGX investing up to $500 billion in US AI infrastructure, focusing on AI tools for disease detection, including cancer. Salesforce is advancing the AI agent trend with pre-built AI assistants for healthcare. In February 2024, it launched Agentforce for Health, a library of AI agents automating patient tasks such as appointment booking, provider tasks like summarizing medical histories, and life sciences tasks including clinical trial matching. Salesforce partnered with EHR provider Athenahealth to integrate Agentforce into Athenahealth’s platform. This builds on Salesforce’s March 2024 launch of Einstein Copilot, which allows providers to query patient data consolidated in its Health Cloud. Salesforce also supports AI platforms built on Health Cloud, such as Blue Shield of California’s AI-powered prior authorization system, slated for testing in early 2025. Palantir, known for large defense contracts, has spent four years growing its healthcare business, working with systems like Cleveland Clinic, Tampa General, and Nebraska Medicine to automate hospital functions including revenue cycle management, staffing, and patient flow. In May 2024, Palantir partnered with the Joint Commission to improve its data collection and help hospitals comply with quality standards using AI and analytics. Palantir also collaborates with R1 RCM, an AI-driven revenue cycle management firm taken private in an $8. 9 billion deal in August 2023. Furthermore, Palantir aims to empower healthcare startups with AI tools via its software platform HealthStart. In sum, major tech companies are integrating AI deeply into healthcare, from clinical documentation and patient monitoring to hospital operations, drug discovery, and personalized care. Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Oracle, Salesforce, Apple, and Palantir each pursue unique healthcare AI strategies, combining proprietary technology, partnerships, and acquisitions to transform healthcare delivery and research.