AI Race Expands to Health and Finance: OpenAI Launches 'ChatGPT Health', Anthropic Targets $350 Billion Valuation

San Francisco – New York | EcoPulse24

According to Bloomberg, AI companies are entering a new phase of expansion beyond general conversational tools, with competition moving into highly sensitive sectors such as healthcare and finance amid accelerating investment flows.

OpenAI has announced the launch of a new feature called ChatGPT Health, marking its most significant step yet into the healthcare sector. The service enables users to analyze medical test results, prepare for doctor visits, and receive guidance on diet and exercise, while clarifying that it does not provide official medical diagnoses.

The company stated that the new feature can be linked to electronic health records, wearable devices, and health and fitness apps such as Apple Health and MyFitnessPal. Access will begin via a waitlist, with broader availability planned in the coming weeks. OpenAI noted it consulted over 260 physicians over two years to develop its AI's healthcare capabilities, implementing special safeguards to isolate health data and enhance privacy.

This move comes amid strong user interest in AI, with OpenAI indicating that over 200 million people ask health and wellness questions on ChatGPT weekly. The company sees the new tool as supporting doctors rather than replacing them, by simplifying medical information and providing broader understanding of patient conditions.

On the financial front, the scale of investment in AI continues to grow. Reports indicate that Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot, is planning to raise $10 billion in a new funding round that could lift its valuation to around $350 billion pre-investment - one of the highest startup valuations ever.

According to the report, the round is expected to be led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Coatue Management, with the deal potentially closing in the coming weeks. Anthropic previously raised about $13 billion in September, pushing its valuation to $183 billion at the time, underscoring ongoing investor momentum in AI.

This potential round is also viewed in the context of prior investment commitments from Microsoft and Nvidia totaling $15 billion, deepening Anthropic's ties to major backers of OpenAI's rival and highlighting the complexity of alliances within the AI industry.

These developments reveal a dual landscape: practical AI expansion directly affecting individuals' lives through health applications, and a funding race pushing AI company valuations to unprecedented levels, placing the sector under increasing scrutiny around privacy, regulation, and long-term sustainability.