OpenAI acquires Torch Health for $100M, pivots to AI healthcare

OpenAI is buying a small company called Torch Health for about $100 million to help bring AI into healthcare. Torch Health makes it easy to combine medical records into one clear profile that AI can understand. With this move, OpenAI wants to make ChatGPT better at answering health questions, spotting trends, and helping doctors and patients. The deal is expected to finish in early 2026, but OpenAI will need to follow strict rules to protect privacy and work with many new laws. This step gives OpenAI a big chance to change how AI is used in hospitals and clinics.

In a landmark move, OpenAI acquires Torch Health, a startup specializing in AI-ready medical records, for approximately $100 million. This acquisition signals a strategic pivot from general-purpose AI into high-stakes clinical applications, positioning the company to integrate authoritative health data directly into its products like ChatGPT.

Torch Health, a four-person startup, developed a cloud service that unifies disparate health data - including lab results, doctor notes, and wearable data - into a secure, user-controlled profile. The reported purchase price is around $100 million in equity, according to TechCrunch. This technology is critical for personalizing AI health insights, and as reported by ICT Health, Torch's "context engine" is already integral to the new ChatGPT Health preview.

What Torch Brings to OpenAI

The acquisition provides OpenAI with a critical data integration layer, allowing it to transform scattered health records into unified, AI-readable profiles. This enables ChatGPT to offer personalized health insights, answer specific medical questions, and assist clinicians, marking a strategic pivot into the high-stakes healthcare sector.

Unified record layer for structured and unstructured data
Summaries and trend spotting for patients and clinicians
HIPAA compliant APIs that wall off training data
A founding team with stints at concierge provider Forward Health

Integrating this technology stack allows OpenAI's platform to analyze lab results, generate visit summaries, and identify health anomalies without requiring users to manually input sensitive data. This strategic acquisition positions OpenAI to compete directly with healthcare-focused AI from rivals like Anthropic and Google DeepMind.

Competitive and Strategic Context

The move comes as investment in AI health surges, with AI startups capturing 54 percent of digital health funding in 2025, up from 37 percent in 2024, per data cited by Dig.watch. By owning the data integration layer, OpenAI can introduce health modules to ChatGPT's 40 million daily users and create enterprise solutions for hospital systems.

A January 2026 white paper from OpenAI details a forthcoming policy blueprint for AI in healthcare, which will include stricter privacy controls, mandatory physician oversight, and a developer marketplace for third-party health applications.

Regulatory Hurdles Ahead

OpenAI faces a complex regulatory environment. In 2025 alone, 47 states considered over 250 healthcare AI bills, with 33 becoming law. New regulations, such as a Texas law requiring disclosure for AI-assisted diagnoses and California's AI Transparency Act, will impact the rollout, as noted by the Health AI Policy Tracker.

Federal oversight is also intensifying. The Department of Health and Human Services has mandated that all high-impact AI systems meet new safeguards by late 2026. Consequently, OpenAI's success depends on navigating this intricate web of state and federal policies while ensuring technical integration, clinical validation, and maintaining public trust.