OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health, says 230 million users ask about health every week

OpenAI announced the ChatGPT Health app on Wednesday, which the company said will provide a personalized space for users to have conversations with ChatGPT about their health.

People are already using ChatGPT to ask about medical issues; OpenAI says more than 230 million people ask health and wellness questions on the platform each week. But the ChatGPT Health product isolates these conversations away from other chats. This way, the context of your health will not be mentioned in standard conversations with ChatGPT.

If people start conversations about their health outside of the health section, AI aims to nudge them to switch.

In health, AI might refer to the things you discussed in its standard experiment. If you ask ChatGPT to help create a marathon training plan, for example, the AI ​​will know that you’re a runner when you talk in Health about your fitness goals.

ChatGPT Health will also be able to integrate with your personal information or medical records from health apps like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal. OpenAI notes that it will not use health conversations to train its models.

Fidji Simo, chief applications officer at OpenAI, wrote in a blog post that she sees ChatGPT Health as a response to current issues in healthcare, such as cost and access barriers, overwhelmed doctors, and lack of continuity of care.

While the healthcare system has its drawbacks, using AI-powered chatbots for medical advice creates a new series of challenges. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT work by predicting the most likely response to prompts, not the most correct answer, since LLMs have no concept of what is correct or not. AI models are also vulnerable to hallucinations.

In its terms of service, OpenAI states that it is “not intended for use in diagnosing or treating any health condition.”

The feature is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks.