OpenEvidence answers doctors' clinical questions from peer-reviewed studies and treatment guidelines. The company, whose service runs on models from Anthropic, told Reuters that a version of it will be free in roughly 100 countries classed as low- or middle-income, including Uganda, Angola, Sudan, Haiti and Mongolia.
Clinicians in the US and Europe already use it at no charge. In August alone, American doctors consulted it 42 million times, OpenEvidence founder and chief executive Daniel Nadler said. Neither company disclosed the financial terms of the partnership.
In the US, advertisers foot the bill. NBC News reported in May that OpenEvidence carries ads on its app and website, some from drug and medical device makers. Many of the clinicians the network interviewed found them unobtrusive or had never seen any.
Many of the target countries are short of specialists, medical journals and continuing education, and their clinics often lack reliable electricity. Nadler says most doctors there still have smartphones.
Daniela Amodei, Anthropic's president, said the technology has advanced far enough to make a free service like this possible, but that commercial incentives alone would not have produced it without philanthropic work.
Critics of medical AI say tools grounded in research from rich countries can miss how care is delivered in poorer ones. OpenEvidence says it will adapt the service to each region. Earlier this year it worked with health bodies in Rwanda and Botswana on its tools, and in Rwanda 45 local doctors and nurses tested the product and suggested changes.