Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, are joining forces to launch Thrive AI Health, an innovative initiative dedicated to developing AI-driven technology for healthier living. Supported by Huffington's mental wellness company, Thrive Global, and the OpenAI Startup Fund, Thrive AI Health aims to create an "AI health coach" that provides personalized guidance on sleep, nutrition, fitness, stress management, and social connectedness, as detailed in a press release from Monday.
DeCarlos Love, former leader of health and fitness experiences at Fitbit, a Google subsidiary, has been appointed as CEO. Thrive AI Health has attracted investment from strategic partners, including the Alice L. Walton Foundation, established by Walmart co-founder Helen Walton, while also collaborating with the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.
The exact amount of funding from Thrive AI Health’s backers has not been disclosed. We are awaiting further information and will update this article when we receive a response.
Huffington and Altman, in a recent op-ed for Time, outline their ultimate goal: to train an AI health "coach" utilizing extensive scientific research and medical data. This effort involves the development of a new health data platform in partnership with organizations such as Stanford Medicine. They envision a virtual assistant integrated within a smartphone app and Thrive’s enterprise offerings, allowing users to receive real-time "nudges" and tailored health recommendations based on their individual behaviors.
“Most current health advice, while beneficial, remains too general,” they note. “The AI health coach will deliver highly specific recommendations aimed at each person's lifestyle: replace your third afternoon soda with water and lemon; take a 10-minute walk with your child after school at 3:15 p.m.; start your evening routine at 10 p.m. to prepare for your 6 a.m. flight.”
Thrive AI Health enters a crowded market of health-focused applications fueled by AI personalization, many of which have faced persistent business, technical, and regulatory challenges. IBM’s Watson Health, launched in 2015, was envisioned as a solution to process vast amounts of medical data, promising improved health outcomes at an unprecedented pace. However, after investing $4 billion into the division, IBM found the technology fell short, often being inefficient or worse.
Similarly, Babylon Health, a startup that partnered with the NHS to introduce an AI-driven health chatbot, ultimately collapsed after investigations questioned the effectiveness of its technology, leading to its bankruptcy in 2023, despite once being valued at over $4.2 billion.
Additionally, AI has occasionally propagated harmful stereotypes in medical research. A recent study revealed that OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot often reinforced inaccurate beliefs about biological differences, particularly regarding kidney function and skin thickness, among racial groups. Even experienced clinicians can be misled by biased AI outputs, highlighting the challenge of eliminating bias within these models.
To address potential criticisms, Huffington and Altman are positioning Thrive AI Health as a more nuanced and conscientious alternative to previous initiatives. Their goal is to "democratize" health coaching and tackle escalating health disparities securely and with sensitivity to privacy. Gbenga Ogedegbe, director of NYU Langone’s Institute for Excellence in Health Equity, has been appointed as an advisor. The company asserts that the research informing its products will undergo "peer review," and users will retain control over the data utilized for personalized recommendations.
However, based on past experiences, Thrive AI Health might find it challenging to balance the goals of accessibility and patient privacy. In 2016, a major controversy arose when Google’s AI subsidiary, DeepMind, received patient data from the Royal Free NHS Trust in London without patient knowledge or consent. Recent data breaches, such as those involving UnitedHealth and 23andMe, underline the risks associated with sharing sensitive health information with third parties.
Thrive AI Health has the potential to navigate these complexities uniquely, but overcoming the hurdles typical of its predecessors remains a significant challenge, warranting close observation from skeptics.
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