AIRS Medical vs Subtle Medical (2026)
Both enhance and accelerate image acquisition rather than detecting pathology, both are FDA cleared and vendor neutral, both grade A on AI centrality, and they overlap directly on MRI, so the split is modality breadth against MRI depth. If you need multi modality coverage including PET, or you weight peer reviewed validation, start with Subtle Medical, which spans PET and MRI with a CT product pending and grades A on clinical evidence. If your fleet is MRI and you want a tool cleared to stack on top of your scanner makers' own deep learning reconstruction, start with AIRS Medical, which uniquely holds that clearance. Both run on existing hardware with no new capital equipment.
- MRI depth with a rare stacked reconstruction clearance: an April 2026 FDA clearance lets SwiftMR run alongside the scanner manufacturers' own deep learning reconstruction rather than forcing a choice between them, which few competitors address.
- Broad within MRI: cleared across all pulse sequences and all body parts, wider than the organ by organ clearances most imaging AI carries, and vendor neutral across manufacturers and field strengths.
- A large operational footprint: more than 1,700 imaging centers and hospitals across more than 40 countries, with named sites reporting brain scans falling from 15 to 9 minutes.
- Multi modality coverage: PET and MRI today with a CT product pending, against AIRS's MRI only scope, and its newest PET model supports all FDA approved radiotracers at up to 75 percent faster acquisition.
- The deeper evidence and clearance record: 11 FDA clearances reported per product with dates, and more than 25 peer reviewed publications including validation of its newest PET model across accelerated low count acquisitions.
- Deployment on existing hardware with no new capital equipment, scanner and vendor agnostic across more than 1,300 scanners at named systems including Mount Sinai and RadNet.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. AIRS Medical and Subtle Medical are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | AIRS Medical | Subtle Medical |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Radiology & Imaging AI | Radiology & Imaging AI |
| Founded | 2018 | Not recorded |
| Headquarters | Seoul, South Korea | Menlo Park, California |
| Website | airsmed.com | subtlemedical.com |
Side by Side
Each record in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph states what the AI Health Index verified about the vendor, with the caveats attached. Generated from this pair’s live capability grades, so it moves when a grade moves.
The AI Health Index awards AIRS Medical its top capability grade on AI Centrality and FDA and Regulatory Status. Set against Subtle Medical, AIRS Medical does not grade higher on any scored axis, though the two are level on several axes, including AI Centrality, Autonomy and Oversight Model and Model and Technology Transparency. Grades reflect evidence the AI Health Index could verify at the last review, so a low grade records disclosure the vendor has not published rather than a capability it has been shown to lack.
Source: AI Health Index, July 2026
The AI Health Index awards Subtle Medical its top capability grade on several axes, including AI Centrality, Clinical and Operational Evidence and FDA and Regulatory Status. Set against AIRS Medical, Subtle Medical grades higher on several axes, including Clinical and Operational Evidence, HIPAA and BAA Posture and AI Liability and Recourse. Grades reflect evidence the AI Health Index could verify at the last review, so a low grade records disclosure the vendor has not published rather than a capability it has been shown to lack.
Source: AI Health Index, July 2026
Questions buyers ask
Should we choose AIRS Medical or Subtle Medical?
The AI Health Index grades Subtle Medical higher than AIRS Medical on every axis that separates them, several axes, including Clinical and Operational Evidence, HIPAA and BAA Posture and AI Liability and Recourse. AIRS Medical does not grade higher on any scored axis.
Where do AIRS Medical and Subtle Medical differ most?
The widest separation the AI Health Index records between AIRS Medical and Subtle Medical is on Clinical and Operational Evidence, where AIRS Medical grades B and Subtle Medical grades A. That axis sits in the AI Capability group, so it should carry the most weight for a buyer whose binding constraint is how much of the work the model itself is trusted to do.
Where do AIRS Medical and Subtle Medical grade the same?
The AI Health Index grades AIRS Medical and Subtle Medical the same on several axes, including AI Centrality, Autonomy and Oversight Model and Model and Technology Transparency. Neither holds an advantage the index can evidence on those axes, so they should not carry weight in a selection between these two.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Radiology & Imaging AI page.
Both enhance or accelerate acquisition rather than detecting pathology, which places the safety question in an unusual spot: these models alter the image the diagnosis is made from, so the FDA clearance, not clinician review, is the substantive control that the alteration preserves diagnostic quality. Neither publishes pricing or a security attestation.
AIRS's evidence is operational rather than a published reader study confirming diagnostic accuracy is preserved at reduced scan times, which is the clinical question underneath the throughput claim, and it publishes no analysis of whether reconstruction quality varies by body habitus or rare findings. Subtle Medical's record is assessed on a partial set of axes here, so its autonomy, governance, security, and interoperability posture were not evaluated and should be diligence items. AIRS is Seoul based and operates globally, so a US buyer should confirm where inference runs and establish HIPAA terms.