OpenAI Plans Bold Entry into Consumer Health Space with AI Health Assistant

OpenAI’s entry into healthcare follows multiple unsuccessful attempts by other tech giants to make inroads into consumer health data.

OpenAI is reportedly preparing to enter the healthcare space with consumer-focused products, including a generative AI-powered personal health assistant, marking its most ambitious move yet beyond ChatGPT.

The potential offerings under discussion include a personal health assistant and a health data aggregator, tools that could help users manage their medical information, receive personalized health insights, and simplify access to care.

Although OpenAI has not issued an official comment on the reported plans.

The company’s interest in healthcare has grown steadily over the past year. In June, it appointed Nate Gross, cofounder of the physician network Doximity, as head of healthcare strategy. Two months later, Ashley Alexander, a former Instagram executive, joined as vice-president of health products.

At the HLTH conference in October, Gross highlighted that ChatGPT sees nearly 800 million weekly active users, a substantial share of whom use the platform to seek medical information and health advice.

OpenAI’s entry into healthcare follows multiple unsuccessful attempts by other tech giants to make inroads into consumer health data.

Further, Google shut down its health record service in 2011 due to limited adoption, Amazon ended its Halo fitness tracker in 2023, and Microsoft’s HealthVault also failed to gain traction.

Despite this history, analysts believe OpenAI could chart a different course. “Consumers have historically gone to Google to ask their health questions, and it’s clear they’re now beginning to turn to large language models for a more conversational discovery process,” said Greg Yap, partner at Menlo Ventures. “I think OpenAI has a tremendous opportunity in that sector.”

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