TGIFFOTY!

Last year, more African healthtechs launched “AI doctors,” smart chatbots that could diagnose symptoms, suggest treatments, and—when things got serious—tell you to see a real physician, or connect you with one. While it truly helps expand healthcare access in rural areas, cutting wait times, these systems were, still at heart, wrappers around information.

That line blurred when OpenAI, working with the US government, unveiled ChatGPT Health. It’s still the same diagnosis play, aiming to support and not replace medical care; it will become accessible to every user in the coming weeks. The question I have is: if ChatGPT Health becomes available for free to every user, will AI doctors still be viable healthtech products that people will pay money to use?

Truly, tech infrastructure providers are the unplayable final boss in hard game mode.

—Emmanuel