Oura, makers of the Oura Ring, just launched its first proprietary AI model -- and it's specifically for women. On Tuesday, the company announced that it would eventually launch this within its in-app Oura Advisor AI chatbot to answer questions about menopause, the menstrual cycle and more. But as of right now, it's currently in testing under the app's Oura Labs tab.
“This custom model is a fundamental shift in how we responsibly deploy AI in health to meet the needs of our members,” Ricky Bloomfield, Oura's chief medical officer, said in a press release. “Women’s health is too complex -- and too often overlooked -- to rely on one-size-fits-all systems. By designing a model specifically for women and grounding it in trusted clinical science and real-world biometric data, we’re setting the standard for how responsible intelligence should be built and expanded across more areas of health."
What the new AI model testing looks like in Oura Labs. Oura
How Oura's women's health AI model was created
Designed with Oura's own team of board-certified doctors and women’s health experts, the new AI model is the company's first custom large language model made using Oura Advisor's generative AI and Oura's biometric tracking and health-sensing algorithms. So, when a women's health question is asked, this new model is able to comb through its curated women’s health research library while analyzing the data collected by the user's Oura Ring to provide evidence-based answers.
Perhaps most importantly, this new version of Oura Advisor was created to answer questions in a way that is supportive and doesn't dismiss the user's concerns.
Chris Curry, clinical director of women’s health at Oura and a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, adds in the press release that this model aims to help people prepare for appointments with their doctors: "For example, if someone asks, ‘Why has my cycle suddenly become irregular, and is that something to worry about?’ Oura Advisor can walk them through what’s typical, what their data may be showing and what would be most helpful to surface in conversations with their provider."
Oura and privacy
This women's health AI model is currently available only for testing and feedback in Oura Labs, for which participation is optional. Even if you opt in, you can always opt out. Oura also states that it will never sell or rent your health data, and won't share your sensitive information without your consent.
Oura uses what it calls “private AI,” which means all AI insights are processed and generated only on your device. The company also partners with webAI, an AI tech company that Oura describes as a "platform for intelligence to operate securely, scale autonomously and evolve with users’ needs." Some of its processes, such as population-level algorithms, may use cloud or hybrid architectures when it makes sense for the task at hand.