Hippocratic AI, a company specialising in creating huge language models for healthcare that are safety-focused, has made its formal debut with a staggering $50 million in startup money. The California-based startup aims to improve patient care, lower expenses, and address labour shortages. Using a certification procedure for polite behaviour and utilising reinforcement learning from user feedback, the model keeps getting better. Hippocratic AI, which has a team of healthcare experts and AI researchers, seeks to contribute significantly to the sector in line with the growing popularity of generative AI tools in the medical field.
Hippocratic AI, a company specializing in the development of safety-focused large language models for healthcare, has officially launched with an impressive $50 million in seed funding. The funding round was co-led by prominent venture capital firms General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz, demonstrating the company’s strong interest and support.
Hippocratic AI’s primary goal is to build a sizable language model that is tailored for use in healthcare applications. The business is first focusing on non-diagnostic, patient-facing applications of the technology. Hippocratic AI places a lot of focus on certification to make sure the language model keeps good bedside manners and puts patients’ well-being first. The business also intends to use reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) through a group of medical experts to further hone and enhance the performance of the model.
Hippocratic AI’s overarching objective is to significantly advance the medical field. With the use of its extensive language model, the company hopes to lower healthcare expenses, increase access to care, and address the scarcity of healthcare professionals. Hippocratic AI envisions a more proactive, reasonably priced, and equally distributed healthcare system for all by enabling the current healthcare staff and improving patient experiences and safety.
Hippocratic AI was founded in California by a diverse team of hospital administrators, physicians, Medicare professionals, and AI researchers from Johns Hopkins, Nvidia, Washington University in St. Louis, El Camino Health, UPenn, Stanford, and Google. This interdisciplinary approach ensures a comprehensive understanding of the healthcare landscape and enables the company to effectively address the complex challenges in the field.
Hemant Taneja, CEO and Managing Director at General Catalyst, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “The healthcare industry needs its own AI platform, one that is focused on empowering the workforce, reducing burnout, and improving patient safety and experiences with the healthcare system. We joined forces with the Hippocratic AI team, our health assurance ecosystem, and the a16z team to build this platform. Our goal is to fundamentally increase the supply and scalability of healthcare professionals. This is the key to achieving the health assurance vision: a more proactive, more affordable, and more equitable system of care for all.”
Munjal Shah, the Co-founder, and CEO of Hippocratic AI, brings a wealth of experience to the company. He previously founded Like.com, a visual search engine that was later acquired by Google in 2010. Andreessen Horowitz, one of the key investors in Hippocratic AI, also had an investment in Like.com. Shah has been involved in the founding of several other successful companies, including Health Equity Labs, which focuses on developing a health score akin to FICO for individuals, and Health IQ, an AI-powered platform that assists seniors in selecting the most suitable Medicare Advantage plans by reviewing their health records.
The use of generative AI tools and large language models in healthcare has been gaining traction. In April, Google announced the availability of Med-PaLM 2, its medical large language model, to select Google Cloud customers for feedback, exploring use cases, and limited testing. Med-PaLM 2 utilizes Google’s language models to generate answers to medical queries, showcasing the potential of this technology in the healthcare domain.
The utilization of GPT-4, another highly anticipated large language model, has also been extensively discussed and debated within the healthcare community. Some experts argue that it is already making a tangible impact in clinical settings, highlighting the transformative potential of advanced language models in revolutionizing healthcare practices.
By the creation and use of its safety-focused large language model, Hippocratic AI is prepared to make a significant contribution to the growth of healthcare as it sets off on its journey, backed by significant financing and a skilled team.
