AskMed vs Microsoft Copilot

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft's general-purpose AI assistant for chat, writing, research and everyday tasks, on the web at copilot.microsoft.com and in apps for phones and computers. The Copilot website describes Copilot as AI "built to help you get things done" that helps you create, brainstorm, learn and solve problems. The Microsoft Copilot app on the US App Store is listed under Productivity and calls itself "the AI built for work": it connects to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, drafts emails and documents, summarizes files and PDFs, and lets you choose between AI models. Microsoft's support pages say an updated Copilot app became available on August 18, 2026. For answers from the web, Microsoft says Copilot Search builds on Bing and shows clickable citations, with a "Show all" option for the full list of references. Microsoft Copilot is a different product from Dragon Copilot, Microsoft's clinical documentation assistant for health systems.

How do AskMed and Copilot answer a medical question differently?

AskMed and Microsoft Copilot answer a medical question differently mainly in where the sources come from. Microsoft Copilot is a general assistant, and Microsoft says Copilot Search blends traditional and generative search, builds on Bing and shows clickable citations; Microsoft's Copilot pages state no fixed list of medical sources for everyday chat. AskMed searches only a fixed list of medical sources before AskMed writes a word: journals and databases such as PubMed, the Cochrane Library, NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA and The BMJ; guidelines and agencies such as NICE, the USPSTF, WHO, CDC and ECDC; FDA and DailyMed drug labels; and references such as StatPearls and the MSD Manual. AskMed doesn't search the open web, forums or social media. AskMed ranks guidelines first, then systematic reviews and meta-analyses, prefers sources from the last 10 years, and links each claim to its source's exact web address. If AskMed finds no usable medical source, AskMed says so and asks you to rephrase.

AskMed also lets you shape the evidence behind each answer. Source filters turn journals, guidelines, drug labels or references on or off, pick study types from systematic reviews to clinical trials, and set 3 to 12 sources per answer. Research Mode reads up to 20 papers for one question, and you can attach a PDF or an image, which AskMed cites for what the file itself says. How AskMed answers explains the sources, citations and limits in full.

Where do drug facts come from?

AskMed answers drug questions from official drug labels, the prescribing information approved by the regulator, while Microsoft Copilot's pages state no drug label source. AskMed reads FDA labels and DailyMed, and for local brand names AskMed also checks official drug registries from many countries, such as the European Medicines Agency and the UK's medicines.org.uk, so a brand name sold in Europe or the UK leads to the right label. The prescribing label is the primary document for a medicine's indications, contraindications, boxed warnings, interactions and adverse reactions, and each drug claim in AskMed links to the label's exact web address. AskMed never gives drug doses, dose calculations or titration schedules, even for exam questions or hypothetical cases. A drug answer in AskMed still covers what the drug is used for, how the drug works, first-line and alternative options, how dosing is adjusted for kidney or liver function, monitoring, side effects and safety. Exact doses come from the current prescribing information and the treating clinician.

What is Copilot Health, and who can use it?

Copilot Health is a dedicated space inside Microsoft Copilot where people talk through their own health questions, such as what their symptoms might mean, what their lab results say or what kind of care to look for. Microsoft's support page, updated October 2026, says Copilot Health is available in preview to Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium subscribers who are at least 18 and live in the US, and that Copilot Health is temporarily unavailable during the move to the unified Copilot app. For health questions, Copilot Health prioritizes credible health organizations, selected using principles published by the National Academy of Medicine, and Microsoft says information shared with Copilot Health isn't used to target ads. Microsoft describes Copilot Health as a way to understand your own health and prepare for conversations with your doctor, not to diagnose or treat. AskMed meets a different need: a professional reference for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, students and researchers in any country, cited to journals, guidelines and drug labels.

Exam prep built in

AskMed includes Exam Prep for 10 licensing exams, while Microsoft Copilot's website and App Store listing state no question bank for medical licensing exams. AskMed's question banks cover PLAB, USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, PLE, EDN, UKOMNAS, NEET-PG, ENARM, TUS, Ghana MDC and Israel MLE. Each bank is written in the language of its exam, so a candidate for a non-English exam practices in the language of the real paper. Questions come from a fixed bank, not generated by AI when you ask. Every question comes with an explanation for every option, and a timed mock of 40 questions in 60 minutes lets you practice under exam conditions. When a question raises something you don't know, you can ask AskMed in the same app and get an answer cited to journals, guidelines and drug labels, then go back to the bank. For a medical student, a resident or an international medical graduate, AskMed keeps exam practice and cited answers in one account.

For the US exams, the best AI apps for USMLE guide compares AskMed with other study tools for Step 1 and Step 2 CK, and the PLAB 1 guide does the same for the UK exam.

When should you use AskMed or Copilot?

Use AskMed for medical questions and Microsoft Copilot for general work, because each tool is built for that job. AskMed fits any question where you need the source behind the answer: a guideline recommendation, a drug's contraindications or interactions, the evidence for a treatment, a mechanism you're revising, or an exam question you got wrong. AskMed searches journals, guidelines and drug labels, links every claim, and keeps practice for 10 licensing exams in the same app. Microsoft Copilot fits the everyday work around medicine that isn't a clinical question: the Copilot App Store listing describes drafting emails, creating documents, presentations and spreadsheets, summarizing files, managing projects and organizing your day across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. Many clinicians and students use both, with one habit that keeps them apart: when a medical fact will shape a decision, a handover or an exam answer, ask AskMed, open the citation and confirm the source says what the sentence says.

How do you check an AI medical answer?

Checking an AI medical answer, from Microsoft Copilot, AskMed or any other tool, takes four steps, and each one takes about a minute. First, open the citation behind the sentence you plan to act on and confirm the source says what the sentence says, for the same group of patients: a trial in adults doesn't answer a question about children. Second, look at the type and date of the source, since a current guideline outweighs an older review and one small study is weaker than a meta-analysis. Third, check whose guidance it is, because NICE, US and European guidelines can disagree, and follow the one that applies where you practice. Fourth, take doses from the current prescribing label or your local formulary, never from a chatbot. AskMed makes the first step faster by linking every claim to its own source and labeling each source as a Guideline, Research, Drug label or Reference, and AskMed gives the year of each guideline recommendation it states.

For what studies have found about general chatbots and medical questions, including made-up references, read Is ChatGPT accurate for medical questions? For other medical AI tools side by side, see the best AI apps for doctors.

Bottom line

For medical questions, AskMed is the stronger choice over Microsoft Copilot for people who work or study in medicine. Microsoft Copilot is a general assistant for work, built around Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and its web answers draw on Bing with clickable citations. AskMed is built for one job: answering medical questions for doctors, residents, medical students, nurses, pharmacists and researchers from a fixed list of journals, guidelines and drug labels, with every claim linked to its source. AskMed reads FDA labels, DailyMed and non-US drug registries such as the EMA, lets you filter by source type, study type and number of sources, and says so when no source supports an answer. AskMed adds Exam Prep for 10 licensing exams, works worldwide with no NPI, and never uses your questions for advertising. AskMed runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web with one account, in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Arabic.