Last week, OpenAI released Operator, an AI agent that can use the web to perform tasks for you. As a Pro user, I got first access and decided to try this thing out on the stuff I know best - hospital websites.
Here’s how I prompted it:
My 4 year old son has been experiencing symptoms such as rapid breathing. He had an EKG at urgent care and it was abnormal. My primary doctor has told me that I should see a cardiologist. I live in Wynne, Arkansas. I've heard good things about Arkansas Children's Hospital but I don't know if they have cardiologists near me. I know of another family in our town that has been going to Le Bonheur for her child's neurological condition. Please visit the websites for these two hospitals and help me compare them.
Here’s what happened next (a sample of what I saw):
In total, the AI agent spent four minutes on the two websites and fed back to me a very high-level comparison of each hospital’s expertise. Things like "Both hospitals have strong cardiology programs with experienced specialists.”
I was disappointed in the quality of response. For the same prompt in a traditional ChatGPT mode, the AI showed sympathy for what my child was going through and interpreted the intent of my request to help me evaluate care options based on expertise and convenience.
The Operator was much more transactional, likely by design. But the behind-the-scenes view was pretty cool. You actually get to watch the AI agent as it navigates websites, experiencing branding, doctor photos, and messaging. Compared to ChatGPT which feels like a blackbox, this is a promising new experience and use case for AI.
Here are some other observations:
- The “browsing” experience was shaky. Because the Operator experience was streaming the website to me, there was a bit of a lag.
- I thought I might see a whole new way to browse the web, but no - AI navigates just like real users do.
- There’s this handy “take control” button so that at any time I could help redirect it. The ability to work alongside AI is an exciting concept.
- Trying to find an appointment wasn’t easy. Both hospitals had an appointment hub and one even had online appointment scheduling, but the AI agent just came back to me with phone numbers.
What does this all mean for healthcare marketers?
While Operator fell short in helping me compare two hospitals (it was just too surface-level), it’s not a far stretch to see how powerful this could be. I was just using it out of the box, but if combined with a conversational GPT and trained on the right healthcare and brand content, this could become really impactful.
The more interesting consideration is how AI agents evolve once the web adapts to them - and how that will change how we design hospital websites. In my test run, I wasn’t able to schedule an online appointment, but that wasn’t really AI’s fault. Once vendors adapt their technologies (like the Epic Open Scheduling Widget) to support AI-agent browsing, I expect that will be easily solved. As more of these AI-friendly website tools are available to handle those transactional interactions, it opens the door to reimagine how hospital websites can support patients with empathy, compassion, and highly tailored engagement - all likely powered in part by AI.
Right now, we have the opportunity to kick off a truly virtuous cycle. These AI agents have the opportunity to become far more useful, and providers have the ability to rethink their digital experiences to empower them.
In the end, if you don’t already have a GPT Plus account, I’m not sure it’s worth the upgrade to $200/month for the Operator just yet. But if you’d like to give it a test drive and consider how to tailor your digital experience for AI agents, give me ring. We’re kicking off new research that you can get involved with, it’s aimed directly at this next wave of technology and what it means for providers and patients alike.
