AI 411: January 2026

Welcome back to AI 411, a monthly roundup of AI announcements from across the healthcare industry.

January was a big month for announcing new agentic AI tools, from Amazon One Medical’s Health AI to OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health to Anthropic's Claude for Healthcare to Google’s MedGemma. It was also the month for two of the biggest conferences of the year: CES and the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, which Healthcare Brew attended.

But that’s not all. Here’s your breakdown of January 2026’s AI updates.

AnswersNow. AnswersNow, an AI-based applied behavioral analysis company for autism care, announced a $40 million Series B on Jan. 21 led by private equity firm HealthQuest Capital. Money will be used to “aggressively scale” the company to reach more patients, the company said in a release.

Claim Health. On Jan. 21, Claim Health announced a $4.4 million seed funding round led by venture capital (VC) company Maverick Ventures. Claim is using AI to support revenue operations in post-acute care.

Gates Foundation and OpenAI. Nonprofit the Gates Foundation and OpenAI announced on Jan. 20 a pilot initiative, Horizon1000, to expand AI for healthcare in African countries. Together, the foundation and tech company are giving $50 million in funding, with a goal of reaching 1,000 primary healthcare clinics, beginning in Rwanda, by 2028.

Indigo. Indigo, which uses AI to provide medical professional liability insurance, announced on Jan. 29 a $50 million Series B led by investment firm Rubicon Founders.

Oath Surgical. Oath Surgical, a vertically integrated outpatient surgery startup that combines AI and surgical centers, announced on Jan. 27 a new collaboration with tech giant Nvidia. Together, they plan to build out a “multimodal, ambient clinical intelligence platform” for the entire surgical care process, the company said in a statement.

OpenEvidence. “ChatGPT for doctors” developer OpenEvidence announced on Jan. 21 a $250 million Series D, pushing the company’s value to $12 billion. Funds will be used to invest in research and development, according to a release.

Suki. AI scribe Suki announced on Jan. 26 it was selected as electronic health records company Athenahealth’s “preferred solution partner.” Now, Suki will be recommended to Athena’s 170,000+ providers and available through Athena’s app.