Can AI guide your health questions? OpenAI's HealthBench puts it to test

Business Standard

15-05-2025

I am sure you have done it at least once till now… You wake up with a headache or a rash you have never seen before. You Google your symptoms and five clicks later, you are convinced it's something life-threatening, maybe even cancer. What started as a minor worry has turned into full-blown panic. That spiral, fueled by vague search results, medical jargon, and worst-case scenarios, is exactly what makes navigating personal health online so overwhelming.
But what if you had an artificial intelligence (AI) tool trained to think like a doctor that can actually explaine what's likely, what's not, and what questions to ask at your next check-up?
This is what HealthBench, an open-source benchmark from OpenAI, aims to bring to you. OpenAI is testing how well AI models, like ChatGPT, handle real-world medical scenarios. HealthBench is designed to evaluate if AI can offer reliable, safe, and helpful responses to the kinds of questions people actually ask when they're worried about their health.
How does HealthBench work and who built it?
Think of HealthBench as a health-focused performance test for AI. It's not an app or a tool that you can download, yet. Instead, it's a benchmarking system. That means it's a way to measure how smart (and safe) AI models really are when it comes to real-world medical questions about things like diagnosis, treatment options, or even understanding symptoms.
Announcing the launch on X, OpenAI posted, 'HealthBench is a new evaluation benchmark, developed with input from 250+ physicians from around the world, now available in our GitHub repository.'
Evaluations are essential to understanding how models perform in health settings. HealthBench is a new evaluation benchmark, developed with input from 250+ physicians from around the world, now available in our GitHub repository. https://t.co/s7tUTUu5d3
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 12, 2025
'The large dataset, called HealthBench, goes beyond exam-style queries and tests how well artificial intelligence models perform in realistic health scenarios, based on what physician experts say matters most,' the company said in a blog post on Monday.
The company stated that the evaluation framework was developed in collaboration with 262 physicians in 26 specialties who have practiced across 60 countries (Full paper available here).
'Improving human health will be one of the defining impacts of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). If developed and deployed effectively, large language models have the potential to expand access to health information, support clinicians in delivering high-quality care, and help people advocate for their health and that of their communities,' the company wrote in the post.
Karan Singhal, who leads OpenAI's health AI team, said in a post on LinkedIn, 'Unlike previous narrow benchmarks, HealthBench enables meaningful open-ended evaluation through 48,562 unique physician-written rubric criteria spanning several health contexts (e.g., emergencies, global health) and behavioral dimensions (e.g., accuracy, instruction following, communication). We built HealthBench over the last year, working with 262 physicians across 26 specialties with practice experience in 60 countries.'
What kind of medical problems is HealthBench designed to test?
HealthBench gives AI models tough medical cases that real doctors handle in clinics and hospitals every day. These are not simple textbook questions. They're messy, nuanced, and often incomplete, just like real life.
The models are scored on how well they understand symptoms, consider different possibilities, suggest correct diagnoses, recommend treatments, and even explain their reasoning.
In short, OpenAI is testing whether AI can think like a doctor, not just repeat medical facts.
What can HealthBench mean for healthcare users and patients?
From confusing lab reports to conflicting opinions on Google, patients often feel lost. HealthBench aims to ensure that AI models, like the ones behind ChatGPT, can safely assist both patients and doctors. If done right, this could lead to tools that:
Help patients understand medical info in plain English
Support doctors with second opinions or risk assessments
Improve diagnosis in remote or resource-poor areas
Streamline documentation and decision-making in hospitals
How will AI tools like this benefit patients directly?
Right now, HealthBench is more of a behind-the-scenes development, but the impact is already visible. For example, newer versions of ChatGPT (like GPT-4-turbo) are getting better at handling medical questions, thanks to testing frameworks like HealthBench.
In the near future, we could see:
Chatbots that help explain your MRI results
AI companions that help you track chronic illnesses
Tools to prepare better questions for your doctor's visit
Think of it as AI-powered health literacy for everyone.
How can HealthBench help doctors in clinical practice?
Doctors could eventually use AI tools trained and tested with HealthBench to:
Get a second opinion or diagnostic support
Save time on clinical documentation
Help explain conditions to patients more clearly
Stay updated with the latest treatment guidelines
HealthBench is also a reminder that AI isn't perfect. It needs to be monitored, cross-checked, and used with caution, just like any other tool in medical science.