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OpenAI Says Over 40 Million Users Have Asked ChatGPT Healthcare Questions: Report

OpenAI Says Over 40 Million Users Have Asked ChatGPT Healthcare Questions: Report

OpenAI reportedly found that users ask ChatGPT between 1.6 and 1.9 million health insurance questions per week.

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 6 January 2026 16:45 IST

OpenAI Says Over 40 Million Users Have Asked ChatGPT Healthcare Questions: Report

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Solen Feyissa

OpenAI reportedly said that users from rural communities send nearly 6 lakh healthcare messages per week

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Highlights

More than 5 percent of all ChatGPT messages are health-related
OpenAI said that 7 out of 10 healthcare chats occur outside clinic hours
The company focused on health-related performance with GPT-5

OpenAI's ChatGPT is reportedly drawing a large volume of healthcare-related questions. As per the report, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) giant claimed that more than 40 million users globally have sent the AI chatbot questions seeking healthcare and medical information. A significant portion of these messages is said to come from the underserved rural communities, and one of the most asked topics is around health insurance. Notably, in August 2025, when the company released the GPT-5 AI model, it had said that a big focus was on health-related performance.

OpenAI Reportedly Claims High Volume of Healthcare Queries

The AI giant shared several user data metrics with Axios on how individuals interact with the chatbot when it comes to healthcare and medical queries. Notably, the abovementioned 40 million healthcare messages make up north of five percent of all ChatGPT messages globally. The company reportedly also revealed that between 1.6 and 1.9 million messages per week are asking for guidance about health insurance, with primary questions around plan comparison, claims and billing, and coverage.

Apart from this, the report also claimed that as many as 6,00,000 healthcare-related questions per week come from users residing in underserved rural communities, and seven out of 10 conversations occur at a time when clinics are generally closed.

OpenAI Is Doubling Down on Audio AI as It Prepares a New Audio Device

OpenAI also shared results from a survey it conducted in December 2025 with the publication. It asked several user behaviour questions to 1,042 adults in the US. As per the data shared in the report, 55 percent of the respondents stated that they use ChatGPT to check or explore physical symptoms they're facing, while 48 percent use the chatbot to understand medical terms and instructions. Another 44 percent admitted using AI to learn about treatment options.

The data highlights two things immediately. First is the lack of accessibility of healthcare and medical information in the public domain. While Google has been a popular source for people to look up healthcare information, unless users know the right keywords to search for and have the knowledge to decipher the technical medical language, the knowledge is not readily available.

Second is the accessibility of healthcare professionals. Many individuals, especially those living in areas with limited healthcare infrastructure, often do not visit doctors and healthcare professionals for minor ailments and resort to home remedies. OpenAI's data shows how AI is filling both of these gaps with informative and science-backed knowledge.

However, there are concerns. With AI hallucination still an issue in 2026, the reliability of the information shared by a chatbot remains a big question. Although OpenAI told the publication that it is working on improving the healthcare-related responses continuously, the window of error and the reliance on a massive user base can quickly become a recipe for disaster if ChatGPT starts spreading misinformation.

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Further reading: OpenAI, ChatGPT, AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatbots

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Chief Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More