Patient AI Chat
What is AI Chat?
AI Chat is a patient-facing tool that helps with meal- and goal-related questions between visits, such as meal ideas, ingredient swaps, and goal planning. It is designed to support everyday nutrition decisions and reinforce RD care, not replace it.
How does the AI personalize guidance?
AI Chat uses patient context such as chart notes, goals, recent meals, food preferences, and patterns to personalize responses. This helps keep guidance relevant to each patient rather than generic.
Will AI guidance align with my care plan?
Yes. We ensure that the AI guidance reinforces RD recommendations rather than contradicting them. Early feedback suggests AI responses generally align with session topics like protein, fiber, saturated fat, and habit-building.
Does the AI take different nutrition needs into account?
Yes, within scope. AI Chat is designed to consider things like carb and protein goals, meal patterns, preferences, and cultural context when available. It does not attempt to replace individualized clinical judgment.
What topics does AI Chat avoid?
AI Chat has safety guardrails to stay focused on meals, hydration, and everyday exercise. It avoids clinical guidance and will redirect patients to the RD or medical provider when questions fall outside scope.
What sources does the AI use?
AI guidance is grounded in evidence-based nutrition education and patient-specific data. It is designed to align with HAES- and IE-informed care principles and is instructed to avoid weight-centric, prescriptive, or moralizing language (e.g., “good/bad foods,” calorie obsession, weight loss framing).
The intent is to provide safe, practical guidance that complements RD care.
What will I see as an RD?
If a patient uses the AI chat, you will see a lightweight summary of the past 14 days of AI–patient chat in the chart sidebar and patient profile. These summaries surface questions and themes without full transcripts, minimizing workflow burden.
Why do I not see every message?
Based on pilot feedback, RDs preferred summaries over full chat logs for easier reference. The goal is fast session prep, not added documentation work.
Is this available to patients with ED or DE conditions?
No. AI Chat is not shown to patients with ED or DE conditions.
How informed is the AI about disordered eating and ED patients?
For those that don't have the condition labeled in our system, these are treated as high-sensitivity scenarios. The AI uses guardrails and escalation logic to avoid giving advice that could be triggering or harmful.
In these cases, the AI often:
Reflects what the patient is noticing
Encourages discussion with their RD
Reinforces existing care rather than suggesting changes
We are intentionally conservative here and will continue to regularly monitor and tightening behavior based on RD feedback.
How does the AI handle sensitive clinician-only notes?
This is a hard boundary.
The AI does not read or use clinician-authored chart notes.
Clinician-only notes and internal RD documentation are never surfaced or quoted to patients.
The AI is only personalized using patient-facing information, such as appointment summaries, patient-provided context, and short- or long-term goals.
Anything flagged as clinician-only remains clinician-only and inaccessible to the AI.
This separation is enforced at the system level and is a core safety requirement.
Can AI Chat be turned off?
Patients can easily choose not to use AI Chat or stop using it at any time. While RDs do not have a manual “off” switch, patients are never required to use the feature.
What if the AI feels off, incomplete, or confusing for a patient?
Please share feedback via this Google Form. Early RD feedback has directly shaped improvements, especially around clarity and boundaries.
Do I need to change how I run sessions?
No. Think of AI Chat as between-visit support that may help patients come in with clearer ideas and questions.
Sample script adapted from Michelle McQueen, RD:
“I’m excited to share a new feature available in your Nourish app called ‘Ask Nourish.’ It’s an AI chat tool designed to support you between visits.
Instead of a generic AI tool, Ask Nourish uses the information you’ve already shared in your profile, along with the goals and topics we’ve discussed, to provide guidance tailored to you. Because it’s part of the Nourish platform, it’s HIPAA-compliant and designed with patient privacy in mind.
It’s built specifically to support everyday nutrition questions like meal ideas, ingredient swaps, hydration, and goal planning. It’s not a replacement for our sessions, but it can be a helpful in-the-moment resource when something comes up between visits!
You can find the ‘Ask Nourish’ button at the top of your app or in your messages tab. You may also see prompt suggestions within your food log for quick support.
I’d love to hear what you think after you try it!”