OpenAI introduces ChatGPT Health to support informed health decisions

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Health, positioning it as an AI agent that brings together personal health information and conversational AI to support users in understanding and managing health-related concerns. The announcement reflects the growing role of AI in everyday health and wellness decision-making.

According to a note from ChatGPT, around 230 million users currently use its services each week to ask health and wellness-related questions. ChatGPT Health has been developed to respond to this demand by offering a more structured, secure and context-aware way for users to engage with health information.

The core aim of ChatGPT Health is to help users feel more informed, prepared and confident when navigating health issues. By combining individual health data with ChatGPT’s AI capabilities, the tool is intended to provide more relevant and grounded responses, while remaining supportive rather than directive.

A key focus of the new offering is privacy and security. OpenAI has stated that ChatGPT Health includes additional, layered protections designed specifically for health-related use cases. These include purpose-built encryption and data isolation mechanisms intended to keep health conversations “protected and compartmentalised”. The company has emphasised that users will retain control over their data, with clear options around access and usage.

Users will be able to securely connect medical records and wellness apps to ChatGPT Health. This integration is designed to ground conversations in real information, allowing responses to be more personalised and contextually accurate. Linked data can be used to help users understand recent test results, organise information ahead of medical appointments and approach conversations with healthcare professionals more confidently.

The platform also supports connections with wellness and fitness services such as Apple Health, Function and MyFitnessPal. Through these integrations, ChatGPT Health can assist users in interpreting trends related to diet, exercise and overall wellbeing, and offer guidance on how to think about lifestyle routines in a structured way.

OpenAI has said the product was designed and developed in close collaboration with physicians worldwide. Over a period of more than two years, ChatGPT worked with over 260 physicians across 60 countries and dozens of medical specialties. This process focused on understanding what makes health-related responses genuinely helpful, as well as identifying areas where information could be incomplete, misleading or potentially harmful.

The company has positioned this clinical collaboration as central to the design of ChatGPT Health, particularly in ensuring that answers are clear, cautious and framed to support informed discussions rather than replace professional medical advice. The emphasis is on preparation and understanding, rather than diagnosis or treatment decisions.

ChatGPT Health is not being launched as a fully open product immediately. For now, users can register to join a waitlist, indicating a phased rollout approach. This may allow OpenAI to refine the experience, test safeguards and incorporate feedback before broader availability.

The launch reflects wider trends at the intersection of technology, health and consumer services, where AI tools are increasingly expected to offer not just information, but structured support grounded in individual context. For OpenAI, ChatGPT Health represents a move towards more specialised, domain-specific applications of conversational AI.

As consumer expectations around digital health tools continue to evolve, ChatGPT Health signals OpenAI’s intent to play a more active role in how people access, interpret and prepare to act on health information, while placing privacy, safety and professional collaboration at the centre of the experience.