Sources told Business Insider that OpenAI is exploring the possibility of creating its own tools in the healthcare sector. This could be a personal medical assistant or a medical data aggregator.
Sources told Business Insider that OpenAI is exploring the possibility of creating its own tools in the healthcare sector. This could be a personal medical assistant or a medical data aggregator.
The company’s new employees reflect its big ambitions in the healthcare industry, BI writes.
In June, OpenAI brought on Nate Gross, co-founder of healthcare technology company Doximity, to lead its healthcare strategy. Two months later, it brought on Instagram’s Ashley Alexander as vice president of healthcare products. At the HLTH conference in October, Gross pointed to OpenAI’s large audience—ChatGPT has about 800 million active users each week, many of whom ask medical questions.
Several investors have noted that OpenAI could solve a problem that has plagued big tech companies for years: the fragmented nature of individual medical records held by different doctors or institutions. OpenAI’s product could help bring them together in one place.
If OpenAI decides to create a personal medical assistant with consolidated medical records, it will compete with Alphabet’s Verily, which launched its own AI-powered medical record-keeping app in October.
People are increasingly looking to take control of their health, including their medical data. When OpenAI released GPT-5 in August, CEO Sam Altman said health was one of ChatGPT’s primary use cases, boasting that the new model «can help you understand your healthcare and make decisions along the way.»
However, OpenAI is not yet encouraging users to upload their medical data and is proceeding cautiously as more users turn to ChatGPT for health information.
It was previously reported that OpenAI is likely aiming to become a full-fledged cloud provider. This would put the AI startup in direct competition with cloud giants such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform.
