Inspiration
Anecdotal AI was inspired by my personal journey with Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), a chronic illness that is often misdiagnosed or dismissed. As a person of color, I realized the added difficulty in accessing proper healthcare, especially for conditions like - CIRS, Fibromyalgia, CFS etc - that are hard to diagnose and often misunderstood. I wanted to create a platform that would help people like me manage their chronic illnesses, connect them with communities, and guide them toward faster diagnoses. I made Anecdotal AI as the tool I wish I had during my days of uncertainty—one that would save people from the emotional, physical, and financial costs of misdiagnosis. This project is a labor of love and a way to support people who face additional barriers in their healthcare journeys.
What it does
Anecdotal AI is a user-friendly health management app designed for people dealing with chronic conditions. It simplifies complex medical information, making it easier for users to understand their health, while offering AI-powered tools to track symptoms, mood, and recovery tasks on an interactive timeline. You can easily input your symptoms, and the AI helps analyze them, offering insights into what might be going on beneath the surface. Plus, you can upload images of your surroundings, and the AI will check for environmental factors that might be affecting your health.
The app offers both chat and voice options, making it easy to interact with the AI—but what really stands out is the voice-powered profile setup, which allows users to complete their profile using just their voice, perfect for those too fatigued to type due to their illness. It also interprets lab reports, breaking down the data into simpler terms. Users can join community chat rooms to connect with others going through similar health challenges, creating a space that’s both supportive and empathetic. On top of that, you can generate AI-powered reports, save them as PDFs, and share them with healthcare providers, landlords, or employers. This can help fast-track a diagnosis or push for improvements in spaces affected by environmental toxins.
How we built it
We developed Anecdotal AI using Flutter to deliver a seamless cross-platform experience for both Android and iOS users. For real-time data management and secure storage, we implemented Firebase as the backend, with Firestore handling tasks, messages, and user data. The app's AI-powered features are built on a carefully selected combination of models and APIs, including OpenAI’s GPT-4o-mini and GPT-4o models, as well as Google Gemini’s Gemini-1.5-Flash model, ensuring robust and responsive AI functionality.
Challenges we ran into
One of the main challenges was ensuring the app could efficiently handle multiple complex features, like AI-powered symptom analysis, while maintaining a smooth user experience. Creating a comprehensive, accessible, and intuitive platform for individuals dealing with chronic illnesses requires significant effort in design and usability testing. Integrating various APIs and ensuring the AI could effectively process and analyze symptoms, images, and lab results in a meaningful way was another challenge.
On the community side, creating a safe space for users to connect and share experiences without feeling overwhelmed or misunderstood posed an emotional challenge, as we had to be mindful of user sensitivities.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We’re proud of how we’ve managed to integrate AI into a highly specialized health tool that empowers users rather than overwhelms them. It was rewarding to see the progress tracker, symptom checker, and home investigation features come to life, knowing they could make a real difference in someone's health journey. The app is already live on both Android and iOS (iOS version is a bit behind on features due to the Hackathon deadline), and we’ve successfully built a platform that enables users to track their journey, receive AI insights, and connect with a supportive community. We’re especially proud of the voice-enabled account setup feature, which addresses chronic fatigue by allowing users to input their details just by speaking, easing the burden of manual input. Building a feature-rich and fully functional product in a month is another feat we are proud of.
What we learned
We learned that building a health app that combines community, AI, and environmental analysis isn’t just a technical challenge but a deeply emotional one. We had to learn how to balance complex AI features with user-friendliness, accessibility, and empathy. We also gained a better understanding of the health disparities that disproportionately affect people who are societally less privileged, which fueled our passion to create an app that addresses their unique needs. Understanding the importance of community and support in chronic illness management was another key takeaway.
What's next for Anecdotal AI
We’re just getting started with Anecdotal AI! Our next phase will focus on enhancing the app’s ability to connect users with culturally competent healthcare professionals who specialize in diagnosing and treating complex chronic conditions. We aim to introduce a feature that helps people of color and those in underserved communities find doctors, clinics, and specialists tailored to their specific needs. This will be based on insights derived from the health data they choose to share, making it easier to access quality care and improve health outcomes.
We’re also actively expanding our AI's knowledge base on chronic conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, with a particular focus on how these conditions uniquely affect people of color, who often face distinct health challenges due to cultural and socioeconomic factors. Additionally, we’re prioritizing the integration of more advanced AI and machine learning capabilities to deliver even more personalized and precise insights and recommendations. Our goal is to further streamline the journey to diagnosis and management, providing users with the tools they need for better, faster care.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.