OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health for consumer use

OpenAI has released ChatGPT Health, the company's latest product geared to letting patient users get more refined answers from the AI chatbot based on their medical information.

ChatGPT Health lets patient users connect their own medical records to the chatbot, which in turn should allow for more tailored answers to users' medical queries. According to OpenAI, this capability fills a serious gap in patient engagement technology.

"Today, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs and medical notes -- so it's hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own," the company wrote in a press release about ChatGPT Health.

Patients have been using ChatGPT to answer their medical queries, make sense of insurance claims and billing or to translate medical jargon for some time. By letting users share their medical records, as well as other apps such as Apple Health, Function or MyFitnessPal, users should get more individualized responses, OpenAI said.

OpenAI did not state that ChatGPT Health is HIPAA-compliant.

However, it did say making a separate instance of ChatGPT dedicated to medical care means the company can add extra layers of protection to user data. For example, OpenAI said it will not train any of its models on the information shared with ChatGPT Health. The company also reiterated data privacy and controls users can leverage on their own, such as multifactor authentication.

"All apps available in Health must meet OpenAI's privacy and security requirements, including collecting only the minimum data needed, and undergo additional security review specific to inclusion in Health," OpenAI said. "The first time you connect an app, we'll help you understand what types of data may be collected by the third party. And you’re always in control: disconnect an app at any time and it immediately loses access."

Even with the outlined protections, there is likely to be some pushback from industry experts, especially given that health data is a particularly vulnerable form of personal information.

There is also the question of whether large language models, such as ChatGPT, can truly capture a provider's expertise. OpenAI stressed that ChatGPT Health is not a replacement for a healthcare provider.

"It is not intended for diagnosis or treatment," the company said. "Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time -- not just moments of illness -- so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations."

OpenAI added that it has consulted with hundreds of physicians worldwide across a number of specialties to tailor its tools for medical purposes. Of note, physicians have provided input about how and when OpenAI's products should urge follow-up with a clinician.

Still, there's likely to be pushback from the clinician community, particularly among those who fear patients lack the digital health literacy needed to distinguish ChatGPT Health from the expertise of a human provider. It will be essential for healthcare providers to fortify relationships with their patients and continually assess how tools like ChatGPT Health reshape diagnostic relationships.

OpenAI said the rollout of ChatGPT Health will not be widespread immediately. Right now, the company is maintaining a waitlist before opening the tool to a wider consumer base.

Sara Heath has reported news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.