Why trust Greenbot
French health insurance startup Alan has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, Mo, designed to make healthcare support more accessible and efficient. Revealed on November 5, Mo provides proactive assistance to Alan’s health insurance members in France, Belgium, and Spain, with the company soon expanding to Canada.
Mo integrates seamlessly into Alan’s existing app, which already allows users to consult with doctors via chat, and it responds within 15 minutes. Unlike a traditional chatbot, Mo will ask users if they want to continue with AI or directly consult a doctor.
“Mo rephrases my question, introduces itself, and asks if I want to start with Mo or if I want to talk to a doctor,” explained Antoine Lizée, Alan’s AI lead.
Since AI can sometimes “hallucinate,” Alan has added safety measures to prevent misinformation. A doctor checks every answer Mo provides within 15 minutes, and either confirms or corrects the information. “For us, this is all about improving this integrated experience between health insurance, prevention, and access to medical care,” said Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Alan’s co-founder and CEO.
In its early weeks, Mo has already handled 900 conversations. Alan hints at future features that could make Mo an even more proactive health tool, with plans to evolve it to a more personalized companion that understands individual health histories. Lizée noted, “This is just the beginning. Our vision for Mo goes beyond that.”
Meanwhile. the public’s trust in AI for healthcare remains tentative. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that over half of Americans doubt AI chatbots’ accuracy. Their recent polling reveals only 9% of users feel confident about chatbot responses. American Journal of Human Genetics’s study on ChatGPT also showed that accuracy dropped when analyzing summaries written by patients.
“For these models to be clinically useful, we need more data that reflects the diversity of patients,” noted Dr. Ben Solomon from NIH. He added that the continued need for doctor reviews underscores AI’s limitations in healthcare.
In addition to launching Mo, the startup has introduced other features aimed at holistic health management. Alan’s new online shop offers members discounts on health products, and its gamified step counter, Alan Walk, promotes physical activity. These efforts aim to make Alan more than an insurance provider, turning it into a full health support platform for users.
Alan’s has a lot of room to grow from its recent funding boost of $193 million—with its expansion to Canada marking the first entry of a new health insurance company in the country in nearly 70 years. This move is expected to bring Alan’s tech-driven approach to a new market.
As Alan moves forward, Mo’s role in improving health support and accessibility could serve as a model for integrating AI into healthcare while balancing the need for reliable, human-verified information.
