Indian fitness and lifestyle startup Healthify, formerly known as HealthifyMe, has long collaborated with OpenAI. Now, they have become the only Indian company featured in the recent OpenAI’s DevDay keynote, demonstrating the use of OpenAI APIs to enable real-time, one-on-one AI conversations in Hindi.
In an exclusive video interaction with AIM, Tushar Vashisht, co-founder and CEO of Healthify, spoke about their strategic partnership with OpenAI. He emphasised that the partnership is centred on mutual improvement for both companies, wherein the tech gets better, their offerings enhance and customers get benefit on a larger scale.
Vashisht believes that working with strong foundational models is important as the company goes global, serving most of its customers with AI. Together with OpenAI, their mission is to save a million lives in the next one year. “We help test OpenAI’s platform and technologies at scale,” he said.
Interestingly, OpenAI is not the only AI company Healthify has collaborated with. The company is also working with OpenAI’s rivals Anthropic and Google. “OpenAI has been good at showcasing some of the work we do,” Vashisht said. He clarified this in no way diminishes the “great” work they are doing with other AI companies.
Breaking Barriers
Tushar Vashisht (co-founder, CEO) and Abhijit Khasnis (CTO) of Healthify demonstrating the new OpenAI Realtime API for natural conversations with their AI coach. Source: OpenAI Realtime API Blog
Healthify has been on a mission to support the growth of personalised health coaches for people in India including those whose native language is not English. Through its latest development, Healthify aims to provide customised health and fitness guidance to more than 600 million Hindi speakers who have been deprived of quality fitness coaching.
The Realtime API allows developers to build fast, real-time voice conversations in their apps. It enables apps to respond with natural-sounding speech without delays, making it easier to create smooth, interactive voice experiences. This feature is extensively leveraged by Healthify to make conversations with the AI Coach, Ria.
Interestingly, when GPT-4 Turbo was launched, OpenAI had recognised Healthify for using the model to conduct real-time nutritional analysis.
Plugging AI Coaches for India
“AI is at the central and core of what we do today,” said Vashisht.
The company believes that in a country where malnutrition and obesity are major issues, AI has the potential to support and change lives. By providing health coaches through its AI assistant, Ria, the company aims to bridge the gap between coaches and people who would otherwise remain largely unserved. “India has 10s of 1000s of coaches but a billion people to solve,” Vashisht quipped.
Last year, Abhijit Khasnis, CTO of Healthify, explained to AIM that their approach involves utilising an extensive dataset of over 350 million messages and diet plans to create models tailored to specific outcomes, such as improving conversational engagement in voice interactions through user data analysis. When standard foundation models are insufficient, the team strategically applies specific use cases to better interact with real-world data.
Healthify’s tool allows users to upload meal photos for analysis, combining GPT-4 Vision (previously reported) with in-house models for accurate context understanding and data privacy. This has improved the virtual nutritionist Ria’s interactions, enabling longer conversations and more complex health insights.
The health tech company, backed by some of the prominent investors including Khosla Ventures, places strong emphasis on data control and privacy, considering the sensitive nature of their business.
Vashisht had earlier highlighted that customers have full control over their data, with the ability to delete it or choose whether to share it with their coach. The company claims that it does not engage in data partnerships or sell user data, adhering to regulatory and ethical standards.
