AI startup Anthropic is working to make it easier for patients and clinicians to use its AI chatbot for medical information, part of a strategic push into the lucrative healthcare sector.
On Sunday local time—just days after OpenAI announced new tools for clinicians—Anthropic stated that its chatbot, Claude, will launch a new HIPAA-compliant healthcare service. Hospitals, providers, and consumers can use this service to process protected health data. Anthropic is also integrating scientific databases into its products and enhancing its biological research capabilities.
New Features for Consumers and Clinicians
On the consumer side, Anthropic is allowing users to export health data from applications such as Apple Health and Function Health, aiming to help them aggregate medical records and share them with healthcare providers.
These features were announced while Anthropic is reportedly raising funds at a $350 billion valuation. The back-to-back product launches from OpenAI and Anthropic signal Silicon Valley’s growing eagerness to advance in the healthcare sector to boost sales and demonstrate the broad societal benefits of AI.
“When we think about the overall economy and where AI can have the biggest impact, healthcare is a perfect fit once you get the regulatory and data pieces right,” said Mike Krieger, Anthropic’s Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Instagram. He noted the new tools are designed to “empower people with more knowledge, coming both from their data and from conversations with providers.”
Safety and Early Adoption
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic has positioned itself as a reliable, safety-focused AI developer. While its software is particularly popular among engineers for automating coding tasks, it is beginning to see early traction with medical institutions. Notably, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is a trained biophysicist.
Anthropic reported that Banner Health, one of the largest non-profit healthcare systems in the U.S., has more than 22,000 clinical providers using Claude. Among them, 85% reported faster work speeds and higher accuracy. Anthropic is also collaborating with other major clients, including Novo Nordisk(NVO) and Stanford Health Care.
Competition and Privacy Risks
The makers of Claude face intense competition not only from OpenAI but also from traditional tech vendors and emerging startups aiming to apply AI advancements to drug discovery, medical paperwork, and patient record analysis. However, as AI handles sensitive personal data and provides advice on high-stakes health issues, these firms introduce new privacy and security risks.
To address these concerns, Anthropic stated that its medical answers reference citations from reputable publications like PubMed and the NPI Registry, ensuring clinicians can have greater confidence in the results. Anthropic also emphasized that it does not use medical user data to train its models.