AI in 10
The most important AI story—explained in 10 minutes.
Every day, I break down the biggest AI story in just 10 minutes - what it is, why it matters, and how you can actually use it. No tech jargon, just AI made simple.
AI in 10
AI Reads Your Medical Records - Perplexity Health Launches
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Referenced Links:
Perplexity AI
b.well Connected Health
Function Health
Apple Health Platform
Fitbit
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Welcome to AI in 10. I'm Chuck Getchell, and every day I break down the biggest AI story in just 10 minutes. What it is, why it matters, and how you can actually use it. Today marks a pivotal shift in how AI enters your most personal space, your health records. Perplexity just launched Perplexity Health, and it's not another fitness app or symptom checker. This is AI that actually reads your medical history, lab results, and wearable data to give you personalized health insights. Think of it as having a medical interpreter who knows everything about you sitting in your pocket. Here's what happened. Perplexity partnered with Be Well Connected Health to tap into electronic health records from over 2.4 million healthcare providers and 350 health plans. That covers basically every major hospital system and insurance network in America. They also connected with Apple Health, Fitbit, Withhinks, and a bunch of other wearable platforms. The idea is simple but powerful. Instead of asking generic health questions and getting generic answers, you can now ask about your specific situation. Let me paint you a picture. You get blood work done and the results show up in some confusing portal with numbers and reference ranges that might as well be hieroglyphics. Instead of panicking or falling down a WebMD rabbit hole, you can now ask perplexity, what do my cholesterol numbers mean given my exercise routine and family history? The AI pulls your actual lab results, your Fitbit data showing you walk 8,000 steps daily, and your medical records showing your dad had a heart attack at 50. Then it gives you a personalized explanation with citations to actual medical research. This isn't Dr. Google telling you that your headache is probably brain cancer. This is AI that knows you've had migraines for 10 years, you're on a specific medication, and your sleep tracker shows you got four hours last night. The technology behind this is fascinating. B, well, uses something called a 13-step data refinery that takes messy medical data from different systems and standardizes it. Healthcare data is notoriously chaotic. One lab calls it HDL cholesterol, another calls it high-density lipoprotein, and a third abbreviates it completely differently. The refinery cleans all that up so Perplexities AI can actually understand what it's looking at. It's like having a universal translator for medical jargon, which is basically what most of us need anyway, since doctors seem to speak an entirely different language. Now, let's talk about what this means for your daily life because this isn't just cool technology, it's potentially life-changing utility. First, this could save you serious money. How many times have you gone to urgent care or the ER because something seemed scary only to find out it was nothing? With AI that knows your medical history, you can get much better guidance about whether that chest pain is worth a thousand dollar emergency room visit or if it's just heartburn like the last three times. I'm not saying skip the doctor when you're genuinely concerned, but having an AI assistant that knows you're on blood pressure medication, you ate spicy food two hours ago, and your Apple Watch shows your heart rate is normal. That context matters. For working professionals, this is huge for productivity. Instead of taking time off work to call your doctor's office and wait on hold to ask basic questions about your recent lab work, you can get explanations instantly. A busy parent can quickly understand if their kid's growth chart results are normal without playing phone tag with the pediatrician. Think about preparing for doctor visits. How often do you walk into an appointment and the doctor asks about your symptoms or changes since last time and your mind goes completely blank? Now you can ask your AI to generate a summary of your health trends, medication changes, and symptom patterns from the past six months. It's like having a personal health secretary who never forgets anything and can pull up any detail instantly. The privacy angle here is crucial, and perplexity seems to be taking it seriously. Your health data stays encrypted and isn't used to train their AI models. You can revoke access anytime and delete your information completely. But let's be honest, you're still putting your most sensitive information into the hands of a tech company. That requires trust. Perplexity has formed a health advisory board of physicians and researchers to oversee safety, but ultimately you're betting that their security holds up and their policies don't change. As I always say, I'm not a doctor or privacy expert, so definitely research this yourself and talk to professionals about your specific situation. The good news is you control what gets connected. You don't have to link everything. Maybe you start with just your wearable data and see how it goes. Here's what you can actually do with this right now. Perplexity Health is live, and you can try it for free or with a Perplexity Pro subscription. Step one, go to Perplexity.ai or download their app. Look for the health section in your settings. You'll see options to connect various data sources. Start simple. If you have an Apple Watch or iPhone, connect Apple Health first. The setup walks you through authorizing access and you can choose exactly what data to share. Maybe start with just activity and heart rate data. For your medical records, you'll connect through BeWell during the setup process. This means logging into your doctor's patient portal or insurance account to authorize access. It sounds complicated, but it's basically like when you let TurboTax connect to your bank account. A few clips and authentication steps. Once connected, try asking specific questions. Instead of is my heart rate normal, ask why has my resting heart rate increased over the past month compared to my activity levels? The AI will pull your actual data and give you personalized insights with citations to medical research. For appointment prep, try asking for a summary of your recent health trends, changes in medications, or questions to ask your doctor based on your latest lab work. You can export these as PDFs to bring with you. The key is starting with low states questions to see how useful the insights are for your situation. Don't rely on it for emergency decisions, but use it to better understand the health data you already have. If you're already a function health member, that's the company that does comprehensive lab testing. They're rolling out integration with perplexity over the next few weeks. You'll be able to feed your lab results directly into the AI for combined analysis with everything else. Looking ahead, this represents something much bigger than just health AI. We're seeing the emergence of truly personal AI assistants that know your specific situation instead of giving generic advice to everyone. Today it's health data. Tomorrow it could be financial records, work documents, and family schedules all coordinated by AI that understands your unique context. Imagine asking, can I afford this vacation given my current spending patterns and upcoming medical expenses? And getting an answer based on your actual situation. The companies that figure out how to securely connect and interpret personal data will have a massive advantage. Perplexity is making a smart bet that personalization is the future of AI and health is the perfect proving ground because the value is so obvious. This also puts pressure on traditional healthcare systems to step up their game. When patients come to appointments armed with AI-generated insights and specific questions based on their complete health picture, doctors will need to adapt. The real opportunity here is empowerment. For too long, we've been locked out of understanding our own health data by complex systems and medical jargon. AI that can translate your personal health information into plain English advice puts you back in control. That's the key takeaway today. AI is moving from generic helper to personal assistant, and it's starting with the data that matters most to you. Your health information is becoming the foundation for truly personalized AI advice, and you can start experimenting with this capability right now. The question isn't whether AI will become more personal, it's whether you'll take advantage of these tools while they're still emerging or wait until everyone else is already using them to stay healthier, save money, and make better decisions about their lives. That's today's AI Inten. If you want to go deeper and learn AI with a community of people just like you, join us at aihammock.com. I'll see you tomorrow, my friends.
