OpenAI is drawing a clearer boundary between general-purpose AI and sensitive personal data. The company is reportedly working on a new audio model and a dedicated device, while also expanding its efforts in the healthcare sector.
On January 7, the company announced ChatGPT Health, a dedicated health experience within ChatGPT that allows users to securely connect personal medical records and wellness apps, while keeping health data isolated from the main chat interface.
The move reflects OpenAI’s emphasis on data separation and privacy. The new health experience operates as a separate space within ChatGPT, with purpose-built encryption, data isolation and controls designed specifically for sensitive health information. “Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models,” the company clarified.
The launch follows OpenAI’s own data highlighting the scale of health-related use on ChatGPT. According to the company, more than 230 million people globally ask health and wellness questions on the platform every week, accounting for over 5% of all interactions.
OpenAI said it is initially rolling out ChatGPT Health to a limited group of early users as it tests and refines the experience. Access will be available to users on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans outside the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
“People come to ChatGPT to prep for appointments, understand lab results and make sense of their next steps. Health provides a dedicated space that securely brings your health information and ChatGPT’s intelligence together, so you can better advocate for your health,” Karan Singhal, Health AI lead at OpenAI, wrote in a post on X.
Notably, OpenAI launched the benchmark HealthBench last year to evaluate the capabilities of AI systems in healthcare.
Medical Records and App Integrations
This new feature allows users to connect medical records and wellness apps, including Apple Health, MyFitnessPal and Function, with ChatGPT to ground conversations in their own data. OpenAI said this can help users understand test results, prepare questions for clinicians, or review diet and fitness routines.
Medical record integrations and some apps are currently limited to the US, and Apple Health integration requires iOS.
OpenAI said it has partnered with b.well, a digital health platform, which provides access to connected health data. Users can remove access to medical records or disconnect apps at any time, the company said.
Dr Shashank Goyal, a graduate of JJM Medical College, told AIM thatfrom a user perspective, ChatGPT can now act as a screening mechanism. “It can give people awareness about their daily health parameters and help with early detection. Patients who are not very aware of how their body parameters fluctuate can at least understand when something is going up or down,” he said.
At the same time, OpenAI, in a blog post, clarified that Health is “designed to support, not replace, medical care” and is not intended for diagnosis or treatment.
Goyal added that the use of AI tools could also alter the doctor-patient relationship. On the positive side, “if patients are more aware, doctors may not need to spend as much time explaining basic things,” he said, adding that explaining medical issues to patients in India has traditionally been challenging.
Similarly, Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO of Greyhound Research, told AIM that clinicians might see value in this new product. “When a patient walks in with a clearer story, better language, and a sense of what matters, the conversation improves. Time is spent interpreting and deciding, not undoing confusion.”
From an industry perspective, Dilip Kumar, who leads health-related investments at Rainmatter Health, said the launch could significantly change the AI health space, with many existing startups likely to lose relevance as adoption grows. “I meet dozens of AI health startups every week and can tell you this is a big deal,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “Most of them will become redundant once this gets adoption—medical triaging, nutrition, fitness training, rehab and mental health all in one place now.”
Ashley Alexander, vice president of health products at OpenAI, said health information today is spread across many systems, apps and trackers, making it harder for people to manage their wellbeing. She said doctor visits are often short and far apart, leaving long gaps where patients want more help understanding their health.
Sharing her personal experience, Alexander said ChatGPT helped her feel more prepared and confident as she navigated her health after having a baby last year.
Privacy Safeguards
OpenAI said all third-party apps available within ChatGPT Health must meet the company’s privacy and security standards, including strict limits on data collection.
“Apps are required to collect only the minimum data needed,” the company said, adding that each integration also undergoes an additional security review before being made available in Health.
“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,” OpenAI added.
Goyal compared this with medical confidentiality, wherein conversations between doctors and patients are protected by privacy norms, and personal health details cannot be disclosed.
The launch has also drawn scepticism. “This sounds like the craziest data harvesting of the most sensitive personal data users have,” Raquel de Horna, a product and marketing lead at Digital Identity, wrote on LinkedIn. She questioned how OpenAI would assure users that their health data would remain secure and not be repurposed beyond its stated use.
Others argued that concerns around data misuse need to be viewed in the broader context of how health information is already handled today. Tilden Chima, a senior cloud systems engineer, said patient data is already widely accessed across healthcare systems. “Health data is already being harvested or leaked by third-party application add-ons in electronic medical record systems,” he said.
Rajan Kashyap, assistant professor at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), previously told AIM that patient confidentiality is often overlooked in the healthcare industry.
“I strongly advocate for strict adherence to protected data-sharing protocols when handling clinical information. In today’s landscape of data warfare, where numerous companies face legal action for breaching data privacy norms, protecting health data is no less critical than protecting national security,” he said.
The risk of unintentionally exposing protected health information through AI platforms is high. AI systems are vulnerable to data breaches, hacking and the potential for re-identification even with anonymised data. According to the National Institutes of Health in the US, the risk increases due to the growing use of cloud-based AI models.
Gogia said trust in health AI systems cannot be assumed and must be clearly justified. “ChatGPT Health remains a consumer product, not a clinically regulated system. That distinction matters,” he said. “Patients need to know what data is collected, how long it is stored, where it is processed and how it can be permanently removed.”
He added that ambiguity can be as damaging as a data breach. “Evidence shows that trust erodes faster due to uncertainty than from a single failure,” he said.
Gogia added that the real gains from tools like ChatGPT Health lie in practical, everyday improvements rather than clinical breakthroughs. However, he cautioned that there are hard limits to what conversational AI can achieve. “These tools do not create clinicians. They do not add beds. They do not reduce chronic disease burden on their own,” Gogia said
By carving out health as a separate space, OpenAI is clearly distinguishing general AI use from sensitive personal data. The success of ChatGPT Health will hinge on how well that line is maintained over time.
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