Doctolib launches AI clinical lab, plans to use data of 50 million French patients

Doctolib announced the creation of a clinical artificial‑intelligence laboratory with a €20 million investment for 2026. The three‑year project, beginning in August 2026, is run in partnership with Inria, Inserm and the University of Paris Cité and aims to develop decision‑support tools, care‑pathway analysis and automation such as automated consultation notes and a €79‑per‑month AI assistant for physicians.

The lab will train models on the health and demographic records of more than 50 million French users – data that include age, sex, residence, medical histories, diagnoses, treatments, prescriptions and doctor‑entered notes. Although the information is pseudonymised, a direct link to identity remains technically possible, prompting concerns under the GDPR. Users are enrolled by default and must actively opt‑out to block their data from the research. Doctolib says the process complies with the CNIL’s MR‑004 methodology.

The announcement has sparked debate over the balance between medical innovation and data‑privacy protection, with critics questioning whether an opt‑out model provides sufficient consent for the large‑scale use of personal health information.