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OpenAI has officially entered the healthcare arena with the launch of ChatGPT Health, a specialized feature designed to help users navigate their personal medical data.
Launched in the United States this week, the tool marks a significant shift towards personalized AI, moving beyond general advice to a system grounded in a user’s actual clinical history.
The company reports that over 230 million people already ask the chatbot for wellness advice every week and this new dedicated space is intended to make those interactions more accurate and context-aware.
The system works by integrating directly with a user’s digital health ecosystem. Through a partnership with the health data platform b.well, US users can link their official electronic medical records from hospitals and clinics, including lab results, clinical notes, and discharge summaries.
Beyond clinical data, the AI connects to popular wellness apps and wearables including Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, and Peloton. By analyzing this combined data, ChatGPT can spot long-term patterns, such as how a specific diet affects sleep or activity levels, to help users prepare for doctor appointments or understand complex test results.
OpenAI has emphasized that the tool is intended to support rather than replace professional medical care, stating clearly that it is not designed for diagnosis or treatment.
Despite the clinical potential, the launch has sparked immediate debate among privacy advocates. Andrew Crawford of the Center for Democracy and Technology warned that OpenAI is not a “covered entity” under HIPAA, the federal law protecting patient health information in the US.
This means that once a user voluntarily shares their records with the platform, those records may lose their strict legal protections. Experts are concerned that without a comprehensive federal privacy law, sensitive information could be vulnerable if corporate policies change or if the data is shared with third-party vendors.
While the Chat GPT Health feature is rolling out to a small group of early users in the US, it remains unavailable in the UK and the European Economic Area due to stricter regional data protection regulations.
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