Microsoft closes $16B acquisition of Nuance, launching a bold experiment in health AI

AI’s next big health care experiment can now begin.

Microsoft closed on a $16 billion acquisition of Nuance Communications Friday, launching a plan to leverage its speech recognition software and other AI capabilities to seize what the tech giant sees as a $500 billion market opportunity.

Executives told STAT the plan is to package Nuance’s software products with Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure to more seamlessly deliver AI tools to providers, payers, and life sciences companies. An early example is a medical imaging service Nuance launched using Microsoft’s technology last fall that combines an array of radiology tools into a single portal.

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