The OpenAI Startup Fund and Thrive Global announced the creation of a company devoted to developing an AI health coach. Their goal is to make expert-level health coaching available to everyone.
Thrive AI Health
OpenAI and Thrive Global want to improve health outcomes through an AI health coach. According to a press release, they also aim to address “growing health inequities by bringing the power of behavior change to the urgent challenge of chronic diseases.” Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, and Alice Huffington is the CEO of Thrive Global. Together, they introduced the concept of Thrive AI Health. “So much of the conversation around AI has been about how much time it will save us and how productive it will make us,” the two wrote in an Op-Ed in Time. “But AI could go well beyond efficiency and optimization to something much more fundamental: improving both our health spans and our lifespans.”
The AI Health Coach aims to reduce the trendlines on chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are skyrocketing worldwide, but in the U.S. alone, around 90% of the $4.1 trillion in healthcare spending is for treating chronic and mental health conditions. In 2023, cardiovascular diseases, depression, and diabetes hit all-time highs. One of the ways the AI Health Coach plans to reduce these numbers is through the power of generative AI. Through generative AI, it aims to hyper-personalize and scale behavior change across five key daily behaviors that impact our health. These include sleep, food, fitness, stress management, and connection.
According to the press release, the artificial coach “will be trained on the latest peer-reviewed science, biometric, lab, and other medical data, as well as users’ personal preferences and goals around the five key daily behaviors.”
Harnessing AI Power
DeCarlos Love is the CEO of the new company and is familiar with tech and AI. He was recently employed by Google before becoming CEO of Thrive AI Health. At Google, Love led sensors, AI & ML algorithms. In addition, he has experience in health and fitness-related devices, including Fitbit by Google Fitness, Pixel Watch, and Wear OS. “Recent advancements in artificial intelligence present an unprecedented opportunity to make behavior change much more powerful and sustainable,” said Love. “AI has shown a remarkable ability to assimilate large datasets, extract actionable insights, recognize patterns, and deliver personalized recommendations.”
According to Love, despite technological advances, large language models (LLMs) fail to deliver a comprehensive and effective health coaching experience. However, Love said, “Thrive AI Health Coach is the product to solve the limitations of current AI and LLM-based solutions by providing personalized, proactive, and data-driven coaching across the five daily behaviors.”
Chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease and diabetes, are directly related to our daily behaviors, but they do not have equal distribution across demographics. The press release states, “The Thrive AI Health Coach will leverage the power of AI to reach underserved communities.”
Thrive AI Health has set up research partnerships with leading academic institutions and medical centers, including bringing the AI Health Coach to their communities. Launch partners include Stanford Medicine, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, and the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University.
