OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington have announced a new startup venture to create an artificial intelligence-driven health coach in an attempt to leverage “hyper-personalization” to improve behavioral health.
Thrive AI Health, a collaboration between OpenAI and Huffington’s Thrive Global, will develop apps focused on habit formation and behavior change. Published in an editorial in Time magazine on monday.
“Yes, changing behavior is hard, but through hyper-personalization, AI is uniquely positioned to solve it,” the two wrote.
“Every aspect of our health is deeply influenced by five fundamental daily behaviors: sleep, diet, exercise, stress management, and social connection,” the researchers continued, “and AI, by leveraging the power of hyper-personalization, can significantly improve these behaviors.”
Altman and Huffington said the startup’s ultimate product will be trained on a person’s biometric data and personal preferences to offer advice on health priorities such as sleep and diet.
They said that using AI to integrate health and calendar data, for example, a personalized note from a health coach could be a reminder to go to bed earlier to get enough sleep for an early flight.
“AI-enabled diagnostics are already reducing error rates and improving patient outcomes,” the researchers claim. “Now, by focusing AI on promoting healthy behaviors and harnessing its potential to process billions of data points, we have a powerful tool to effect positive change, so that technology can help our health, rather than hurt it.”
