Imagine walking into a clinic where your doctor isn’t a person, but an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) ready to listen to your symptoms and suggest treatments, all with a real doctor double-checking things behind the scenes. That’s exactly what’s happening in Saudi Arabia, where Synyi AI, a Tencent-backed startup from Shanghai, has just opened the world’s first AI-powered medical clinic. This move is a step towards blending technology and human expertise to make healthcare smarter and more accessible.
World’s first AI-powered clinic opens in Saudi Arabia
Launched in partnership with the country’s Almoosa Health Group, the AI doctor clinic is located in the eastern Al-Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia.
The clinic features “Dr Hua,” an AI system that autonomously diagnoses and prescribes treatments for patients, with human doctors reviewing the plans for accuracy.
How does the AI-powered Dr Hua diagnose patients?
According to a report by Bloomberg, patients interact with Dr Hua by describing their symptoms on a tablet. The AI follows up with targeted questions, analyses medical data and images—such as cardiograms and X-rays—collected by human assistants, and then proposes a treatment plan. Human doctors remain on hand for emergencies and final sign-off, but do not directly examine patients during routine visits. ALSO READ | Apple's AI-powered health assistant will tell you how to keep fit: Details
Human doctors are also present to manage emergencies and situations that the AI is not equipped to handle.
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How accurate is the AI in diagnosing health conditions?
The Bloomberg report, citing Synyi AI, said the technology demonstrated an error rate of less than 0.3 per cent during its testing phase before the current trial.
“What AI has done in the past is to assist doctors, but now we are taking the final step of the journey to let AI diagnose and treat the patients directly,” Synyi AI CEO Zhang Shaodian said in an interview.
So far, a few dozen patients have used the service at no cost, with a human doctor on-site, as the project is still in its trial stage. The pilot programme is generating AI diagnostic data that will be submitted to Saudi regulators for approval ahead of a potential commercial rollout. Zhang remains optimistic that the necessary clearance will be secured within 18 months. OpenAI has recently launched "HealthBench" benchmark which tests how accurately AI can handle health.
Which diseases are currently diagnosed by the AI clinic?
The AI clinic currently specialises in diagnosing and managing respiratory illnesses. It covers around 30 conditions, including common diseases such as asthma and pharyngitis. The company has announced plans to expand the clinic’s capabilities to about 50 diseases soon. This will include gastroenterological and dermatological conditions. For more health updates and wellness insights, follow #HealthWithBS
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