Google.org is providing Clalit Health Services with a $2 million grant over two years to develop and launch an AI-powered “Digital Front Door” for about five million members.

Built on Google Cloud and powered by language models, the assistant is designed to understand local spoken dialects, letting patients use their own language and speaking style to report symptoms, book appointments and complete preliminary medical intake.

It is also intended to guide patients through follow-up care, while automated intake and triage could reduce administrative work for medical staff.

Because patients can use voice rather than a formal written interface, the service could reach people facing digital-access barriers, including users of restricted-use kosher phones through landlines and standard mobile phones.

The announcement did not identify specific communities; Arabic-speaking and ultra-Orthodox patients could benefit, while the five-million figure appears to refer to Clalit’s full membership rather than only those facing access barriers.

Clalit plans to test the platform with patients before considering a nationwide rollout, but has not announced a launch date or which languages and dialects will be available first.

Clalit says patient conversations will be encrypted and de-identified under its Zero Trust security framework, with medical records kept inside its protected network and not sent to public repositories or Google Search.

Clalit describes the grant as a donation, not a commercial partnership, and says it will not need to contribute its own money; development will build on its existing medical-record and cloud infrastructure.

The organizations have not disclosed measures of success or how the system will be funded after the grant ends, leaving its longer-term value dependent on the pilot and a plan for sustaining the service.

Clalit intends to open-source the software code, AI methodology and cultural-adaptation frameworks, with sensitive information removed, so other public healthcare organizations can adapt them; no timetable has been announced.

Clalit Director General Prof. Eytan Wirtheim and Google Cloud Israel Managing Director Boaz Maoz said the initiative could offer a model for expanding digital healthcare access that other organizations can replicate.