Zocdoc and Instinct: personal AI agents as the front door to care

TL;DR

Zocdoc opened its US booking platform to personal AI agents, and agent traffic has grown nearly 30x since July. I think agents could become a common front door to care within 2-3 years in the US. The agent that wins in health will need to know my history and be able to act on it. I want to know how my agent chooses which doctor to recommend.

Will personal AI agents become our front door to healthcare?

Last week, Zocdoc opened its US appointment-booking platform to personal AI agents. Meanwhile, Amazon, Delta and major US banks are restricting agent access to their services.

There is a good chance these agents could become a common front door to care within 2-3 years in the US, a bit later in Europe.

I assume many of my readers in Europe have never used a personal agent. I use Grok Bot heavily for my own admin. It launched in August, followed by Meta's Muse, OpenAI's dots and Anthropic's Claude Duet. Most of these products are still unavailable to consumers in Europe. With less opportunity to use them, I expect habits here to take longer to change.

Here's what they do: These agents run on their own cloud computers and keep working after you close the app. You message them to book a flight or order groceries, and they work through the steps, asking for approval when needed. The ambition is for one agent to become your everyday assistant and companion, and your starting point for much of daily life.

Investors are betting on that possibility. Instinct is rumoured to be raising at a $30 billion valuation. On last week's 20VC, Harry Stebbings argued that it could become a super app for the West, similar to WeChat in China.

Health is where I expect this to matter most. Zocdoc says traffic from AI agents on its platform has grown nearly 30x since July. Its network already includes Gemini, and its new booking partnership with Instinct will roll out in the coming weeks. Agents must obtain explicit patient consent before booking.

The agent that wins in health will need to know my history and be able to act on it. Booking the appointment comes first. With my permission, it could then send my records ahead and keep track of the follow-up.That coordination work is where patients get lost today. Startups have been trying to solve this for years. Could it be different with an assistant you already use every day, one that keeps track of what needs doing and reminds you without being asked?

It is still unclear whether an independent agent like Instinct or one of the large labs' assistants will earn that role. OpenAI and Anthropic are already building health capabilities, and OpenAI bought Torch to help bring scattered medical records together.

I'll also want to know how my agent chooses which doctor or service to recommend.

Zocdoc says eligible agent partners can earn revenue through its platform. If my agent is being paid by services it recommends, I want to understand how that affects the options it puts in front of me.