Microsoft Corp MSFT has announced a collaboration with digital pathology provider Paige to develop the world's largest image-based artificial intelligence model for cancer detection. 

This AI model is being trained on an unprecedented volume of data, including billions of images, and can identify common and rare cancers that are challenging to diagnose. 

Paige specializes in creating digital and AI-driven solutions for pathologists and medical professionals conducting laboratory tests on bodily fluids and tissues to make diagnoses. 

Paige is incorporating up to four million digitized microscopy slides across multiple types of cancer from its unmatched petabyte-scale archive of clinical data. Paige will utilize Microsoft's advanced supercomputing infrastructure to train the technology at scale and ultimately deploy it to hospitals and laboratories across the globe using Azure.

Ultimately, the AI model is expected to address storage challenges for healthcare systems while accelerating the diagnostic process for pathologists. For some patients, this could mean the difference between waiting a few days or several weeks for a diagnosis, potentially democratizing access to healthcare in underserved areas.

On Thursday, Paige and Microsoft will publish a paper on the model through Cornell University's preprint server arXiv, CNBC reported. The paper quantifies the impact of the new model compared with existing models, and Fuchs said it outperforms anything that has been built in academia up to this point.

Price Action: MSFT shares are down 0.59% at $330.93 on the last check Thursday.