Clalit Health Services, Israel's largest healthcare provider, has received $2 million from Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm, to build a conversational artificial intelligence platform for its 5 million patients, Ynet Global reports. The funding is spread over two years. It will support a multilingual voice assistant that helps patients describe symptoms, schedule appointments, prepare for doctor visits and manage follow-up care.
The service is built for people who are often left out of digital health. Clalit said the assistant will work through landlines and basic mobile phones, so patients without smartphones or internet access can use it, Ynet Global reports. The Jerusalem Post reports the platform is also meant for patients whose devices cannot easily run web-based services, and that it will serve Clalit's roughly five million members in multiple languages.
Language is the other barrier Clalit wants to lower. Ynet Global reports that online platforms often rely on formal written language, which trips up patients who speak mainly in regional dialects. Using Google's Gemini AI models and Google Cloud infrastructure, the system is meant to recognize local dialects and account for cultural differences, so patients can complete intake, symptom triage and scheduling in their own spoken language. Clalit said automating intake and symptom assessment before appointments could also save medical teams time.
"Our commitment to every person, from every community and every background, is the beating heart of our work," said Prof. Eitan Wirtheim, Clalit's CEO, according to Ynet Global. Boaz Maoz, managing director of Google Cloud Israel, said, "AI has the potential to solve some of healthcare's most persistent access barriers."
Clalit said the platform will go through an initial patient pilot before a nationwide rollout, Ynet Global reports. The announcement gave no launch date and did not say which languages and dialects would come first. To protect patient confidentiality, Clalit said interactions will be encrypted, processed to remove sensitive information and anonymized, with access to the system restricted.
Clalit also plans to release an open-source version of the voice AI architecture and its frameworks for adapting the service to different communities, after sensitive information is removed, Ynet Global reports. The aim is to let public health providers in other countries adapt the approach for their own patients. What it means: a tool built for Israel's many languages and communities could end up helping patients far beyond its borders.
