Google believes Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be the driving force behind future health tech innovations. This was emphasized during Google’s annual event, The Check Up, were the corporation discussed plans to integrate a health chatbot into the Fitbit app, improve Google Lens for enhanced skin condition searches and use a version of the Gemini chatbot for medical applications.
Notably, Google revealed more details this week about an in-development AI feature aimed at Fitbit users which was first discussed briefly last year. With this feature, Fitbit Labs will allow users to analyze the health data from their fitness trackers and understand patterns and relationships in the data. An added chatbot within the mobile application will facilitate natural language queries and generate personalized charts to aid the user’s understanding of their health.
Although specifics about the Fitbit chatbot haven’t been fully outlined, Google shared an example chat on Tuesday. Within the conversation, a user inquired about relationships between sleep and activity levels. Fitbit’s assistant responded by establishing a correlation between higher activity levels and improved sleep. However, users were warned not to presume it’s the sole factor influencing sleep.
The AI tool from Fitbit is expected to be launched within the year and will be initially accessible only to Fitbit Premium subscribers using Android devices who have availed of the Fitbit Labs program.
Google also envisions Google Lens plugging certain health information gaps that text-based searches do not effectively address. An earlier introduced Lens feature, that identifies skin conditions by finding visually similar search results from the web, is currently available in over 150 countries. This feature can be beneficial particularly when the user is unable to adequately describe a skin condition.
Google has additionally enriched its search results with images and diagrams from trustworthy online resources about conditions such as neck pain, with the hopes of extending these visual search aids to other health conditions including migraines, kidney stones, and pneumonia in the upcoming months.
Furthermore, Google mentioned plans of collaborating with health and wellness experts and other medical industry insiders, through Fitbit and Google Research, to create a new health and wellness AI model. The primary objective is to leverage the AI capabilities of the Gemini model to power future AI capabilities across Google’s range of health services.
