Recently, Arianna Huffington, the founder of The Huffington Post, and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, have joined forces to support the startup Thrive AI Health. The aim is to develop artificial intelligence assistant technology to promote a healthier lifestyle.
Thrive AI Health is backed by Arianna Huffington's Thrive Global and OpenAI's Startup Fund, with plans to create an "AI Health Coach" that provides personalized advice to users on sleep, diet, exercise, and stress management. DeCarlos Love, a former executive of Google Fitbit's subsidiary, has been appointed as CEO. Strategic investors include the Alice Walton Foundation, founded by Walmart co-founder Helen Walton.
Image Source Note: The image was generated by AI, and the image is provided by the authorization service provider Midjourney
According to Arianna Huffington and Sam Altman, Thrive AI Health will utilize health data platforms and collaborations with institutions like Stanford Medicine to train AI health "coaches" based on scientific research and medical data. They envision providing a virtual assistant through smartphone apps and corporate products, learning user behavior, and offering real-time health advice.
However, AI-driven personalized health applications have faced many challenges. Projects like IBM's Watson Health and NHS's Babylon Health, in collaboration with IBM, have encountered technical, business, and regulatory hurdles. Moreover, AI in health research may perpetuate negative stereotypes, such as ChatGPT showing bias in answering health questions related to race.
In response to criticism, Thrive AI Health emphasizes its cautious and considerate approach, claiming to "democratize" health guidance and address health inequality issues. The company has appointed a health equity expert as an advisor and promises user control over the use of personal data.
Despite this, Thrive AI Health may still face the challenge of balancing privacy protection with the popularization of technology. Past data breaches, such as Google DeepMind obtaining NHS patient data without consent, and the scandals involving UnitedHealth and 23andMe, have highlighted the risks of entrusting sensitive health data to third parties.