“Infinite Medical Intelligence” w/ OpenAI’s Head of Health AI Karan Singhal
October 20, 2026
300M+ people ask ChatGPT about their health every week. On the a16z podcast, I sat down with my friend Karan Singhal, who leads Health AI at OpenAI, to explore what comes next.
We covered:
- What happens when everyone has a personal, proactive health assistant in their pocket
- The distinction between medical information and medical care
- What to do when your doctor and ChatGPT disagree
- Whether everyone could have a second, third, and fourth opinion for every medical decision
- Why medical evidence can take 5-17 years to reach everyday practice
- What nearly free medical intelligence could mean for the cost of care
- What a “Move 37” moment could look like in health
- What OpenAI is building itself, and where it sees opportunities for healthcare startups
The distinction between information and care is one I keep coming back to. Understanding a health concern is one step. Getting a prescription, scheduling a test, seeing a specialist, and following through on a care plan involve a whole system of people and processes.
Abundant medical intelligence unlocks many opportunities to build new care applications and services. For founders, Karan’s advice was clear: bet on the models getting way better.
Super inspiring conversation on how AI can both raise the floor and the ceiling of human health.