Discovery & Google Personalising Healthcare with Vitality AI

AI powered solutions for advancing human health have received a vital upgrade with a new partnership between Google and Discovery Group, a South Africa-based financial services group which owns Vitality Health and Life Insurance.

The insurance giant has teamed up with Google to release Vitality AI, a platform that can provide hyper-relevant and personalised health recommendations for millions of users.

Adrian Gore, founder and Group Chief Executive of the Discovery Group, says that despite knowing the clear benefits of preventative care, health systems remain focused on treating illness when it happens.

Non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes account for 75% of global deaths, which can be kept at bay by making behavioural changes. 

“Our partnership with Google transforms this,” he says.

“By bringing together Google’s technology and AI capabilities, and our unique data sets and understanding of behavior change, we will have a never-before-seen capability and understanding of a person’s health, coming together in a way that personalises and empowers millions of people to take control of their health. 

“This is transformational, both for the individual and the insurance market as a whole.”

Vitality AI for delivering healthcare at scale

Vitality AI is powered by Google Cloud’s advanced AI and data analytics models including Vertex AI and Gemini. 

The health insurance leader with vast health dataset and behaviour change expertise will be applying the Google AI tools to give users actionable insights tailored to each individual’s health history. 

Vitality’s de-identified datasets contain over 2,800 dimensions such as lifestyle, behaviours, health data, propensity for illness and risk factors.

This treasure trove of health data is actioned upon by Google’s AI tools to generate tailored recommendations for people’s everyday lifestyle choices to assuage the onset of preventable diseases. 

Vitality AI platform will be able to identify risks and communicate them with context to the users, to explain health conditions so as to motivate positive behaviour change. 

"From accelerating the pace of scientific progress, to enhancing early detection of diseases, improving treatment planning, better supporting healthcare professionals and giving more people the right tools and information to live healthier," says Maureen Costello, Vice President, UK, Ireland and Sub-Saharan Africa at Google.

“By integrating Google Cloud's advanced AI capabilities, including Gemini models, with Vitality’s data and understanding on driving healthier habits, this partnership poses an exciting opportunity to deliver hyper-relevant healthcare at scale.”

Vitality AI health impacts 

The benefits of Vitality AI are expected to be significantly higher for older adults and for individuals with chronic health conditions. 

Vitality’s tailored recommendations can also lead to reduced hospital costs for the wider public.

Data shows that Vitality’s current insights have increased screening rates by 5.5 times, which has led to a 19% increase in early cancer detection. 

Google-Vitality partnership pillars

The new partnership deepens the decade long tie up between the two companies.

This allows Vitality to comprehensively use the Google Health Connect platform and strengthens the Vitality-Fitbit relationship.

Google will be Vitality’s AI market partner and will help to scale Vitality AI and support Vitality’s launch into uncharted territories. 

Vitality will also have a dedicated partnership with YouTube Health as it strives to build a wellness expertise content channel with educational resources to improve global health 

The partnership signals a shift in how healthcare can be delivered, moving from reactive treatment toward proactive, personalised support that meets people where they are.