Artificial intelligence is taking on increasingly important roles in people’s lives. It can be your personal trainer, therapist and now, potentially, your go-to health expert.
Onix has launched its Personal Intelligence platform, built exclusively on an individual medical expert’s licensed research and intellectual property, with some major names in medicine getting on board.
Subscribers can have end-to-end encrypted conversations, stored locally on their device, with the AI tool that uses experts’ own frameworks, research and materials under explicit permission and governance — some of which have never been shared before online.
The founding member list includes some of the most recognizable experts across health and wellness, including world-renowned physician Dr. William Li, known for his pioneering research on the role of food in health, and biochemist Jeffrey Bland, or the “Father of Functional Medicine,” with over 40 years of leading the conversation in personalized, systems-based health. Additional inaugural members include Christian Drapeau, MSc; Juliana Hauser, LMFT; Meenal Agarwal, OD; Ashley Koff, RD; Jill Carnahan, MD; Krista Ramonas, MD; Joel “Gator” Warsh, MD; Nicole Beurkens, PhD; and Mark Sisson.
Using these experts’ proprietary insights, subscribers will receive answers grounded in specific science over generalized responses normally found online. As with other AI, the more users engage with the platform, the more guidance can be trained on their individual needs, concerns and goals.
“People turn to AI for help with some of the most important decisions in their lives,” said Onix co-founder and CEO David Bennahum. “But a generic model trained on the entire internet can give you the average answer, not the right answer for you.”
“Onix lets you learn from the specific experts you trust, grounded in their proprietary work, with continuity over time, and with privacy that’s built into the architecture,” he added.
Given the sensitive nature of health-specific discussions and questions, and public distrust of AI, the company takes a privacy-first approach, storing information in a personal data vault that cannot be accessed by Onix nor its experts — the only data it has access to is the user’s email address.
“Everyone in AI is racing to build bigger models,” said Onix co-founder and chief technology officer, Dr. Nicholas Nadeau.
“They’re solving the wrong problem,” he explained. “The real bottleneck isn’t computers. It’s trust. People won’t share what actually matters with a system that’s watching. We built Onix so the system can’t watch, even if we wanted it to.”
Onix makes clear that its platform is not meant to replace clinical care, but to complement the guidance received from practitioners. On top of being HIPAA compliant, Personal Intelligence also includes safeguards that can redirect high-risk situations to appropriate medical services when necessary.
Onix is available on iOS, with Android to follow.
The fitness and wellness industry has been increasingly embracing AI health advisors as the tech becomes more ubiquitous. That includes Jimini Health, which integrates clinician-led care and AI into therapy, and recently landed $17 million in seed funding to enhance its mental healthcare platform.
Oura also recently unveiled its own health advisor that combines biometric data and generative AI to provide personalized guidance to its smart ring users.
