NEW YORK – Samsung Electronics Co. will roll out a beta version of AI-powered health coach within the Samsung Health application in the US by the end of this year.
The AI health coach in the form of a chatbot will analyze users’ heath data and assist them in implementing doctors’ prescriptions in daily routines, Park Hun-soo, head of the digital health team at Samsung’s Mobile eXperience (MX) division, said on Thursday.
The digital assistant is a new feature within the Samsung Health application that enables users to access their health records collected by its wearables, managing medications and track their daily food intake.
“We’ll build an environment where hospitals and healthcare systems are seamlessly connected through apps and wearable devices,” Park said at a press conference in New York.
The timeline for its domestic rollout has not yet been determined.
“The AI coach is designed to alert users to potential health warning signs, not intended for diagnosis or treatment,” said Park, addressing concerns it could face pushback from South Korea’s medical community.
SYNERGY WITH Xhealth
The AI health coach service will be offered for free. Samsung will establish a monetizaion model for the service once additional features are released, he added.
Samsung said the acquisition will create synergy between its AI-powered wearables — Galaxy smartphone, Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch series — and Xealth’s digital health infrastructure.
The launch of the AI health coach’s bet version follows its acquisition of Xealth this week.
The US-based healthcare platform provider enables hospitals to manage digital health tools for patient cares like prescription and patient condition monitoring through a single platform.
“We’ll be able to offer various business models in the business-to-business market through the recent acquisition,” said Park, in reference to Xealth.
Speaking in the tech form ahead of the press conference, Mike McSherry, chief executive of Xealth, stressed the need for infrastructure that connects digital health data.
Digital healthcare is one of the South Korea semiconductor giant’s new growth drivers, along with homanoid robots. Samsung Group operates Samsung Medical Center, one of the country’s top five general hospitals.
Last year, it raised its stake in Rainbow Robotics Co., a South Korean collaborative robot maker, to 35%, becoming its largest shareholder.
By Shin-Young Park
nyusos@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
