Apple is planning to build an AI doctor that could live inside your phone, according to a new report.
The plan, named “Project Mulberry”, is an attempt to build an AI agent that could replicate a real doctor, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The system is being trained by real doctors so that it could use artificial intelligence to give the kind of advice they would give, it said. That would come as part of a broader revamp of the iPhone’s Health app, perhaps with a paid-for subscription service known as Health+.
Apple has already integrated AI into other parts of its ecosystem, under the Apple Intelligence branding, though that plan has recently run into problems. Other health platforms have also used AI to offer hints, such as Garmin, which recently provoked some outrage by launching a new artificially intelligent subscription service that offers advice to users.
Apple’s system appears to take the vast amount of health data that is already gathered by its products and services, particularly the Apple Watch. But it will then use AI to analyse that information and offer the kind of guidance a doctor might, the report claimed.
But it might also include other data that has not been a central part of Apple’s offering so far. That might include food tracking, for instance.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has said that he hopes that Apple’s biggest contribution to society will be in health. As such, it has built a range of tools intended at improving the wellbeing of its users: not only major products such as the Apple Watch, but smaller software updates such as new hearing tools.
