How a publisher uses AI to revolutionize the search for medical information: A case study with Wort & Bild
The publishing house Wort & Bild, known for its comprehensive and independent health media such as Apotheken Umschau, has taken a pioneering step into the future. By implementing ONTEC AI on the platform apotheken-umschau.de, users can now receive precise, well-founded answers to their medical questions within seconds. This innovative AI solution not only transforms the user experience but also sets new standards in data quality, data protection, and ethical responsibility.
About the client, publisher Wort & Bild
Client: Wort & Bild Verlag
Platform: apotheken-umschau.de
Industry: Health and medicine
Wort & Bild Verlag is a renowned German health media company with well-known brands such as Apotheken Umschau, Apotheken Umschau ELTERN, Diabetes Ratgeber, Senioren Ratgeber, medizini, and HausArzt-PatientenMagazin. With its print and online media, the publisher reaches over 24 million readers and users monthly.
This project was developed for the online platform of Apotheken Umschau, a magazine offering health information on physical and mental well-being.
The magazine offers health information focused on physical and mental well-being, including news and guides ranging from home remedies and medications to government benefits, with a strong emphasis on the services provided by local pharmacies. Apotheken Umschau places great importance on credibility and expertise, maintaining the highest standards with evidence-based and verified health content.
Starting point and objective: Making complex medical content accessible
The aim of the project was to equip the Apotheken Umschau platform with an AI-powered search function. This goal was driven by several technical and societal developments:
Growing wealth of information
The online magazine of Wort & Bild Verlag is extensive and growing daily. As the wealth of information increases, it becomes harder for users to navigate and find the right content among the high-quality articles.
Changing user behavior
Users now prefer asking specific questions like “What can I do about headaches in the morning?” rather than searching with keywords. In the era of large language models (LLMs), users increasingly formulate full questions. The former keyword-based search was slow, tedious, and often led to unsatisfactory results.
Potential synergies
By interlinking knowledge from different articles, synergies can be achieved. Previously, users had to read and filter multiple articles. A solution based on an LLM now delivers the best possible answer within seconds.
Solution
The solution is an AI-based search function for the Apotheken Umschau website.
Users can ask a question in natural language, such as: “What can I do about headaches?”
ONTEC AI searches apotheken-umschau.de for relevant sources and formulates an answer within seconds.
The search function can be tested on the Apotheken Umschau website:
Unlike traditional keyword searches, the system uses semantic search.
The response is also delivered in natural language, tailored specifically to the user’s question and clearly referencing the sources used.
With ONTEC AI, hallucinations (false AI-generated information) are prevented:
Hundreds of new articles are published each month and read by our system. Thanks to optimizations in infrastructure and codebase, we can now deliver precise and fact-based answers. In the medical field, AI hallucinations are a serious challenge. Our product successfully tackles this using various technical approaches, ensuring that users receive reliable and easy-to-understand information.
Uros Zivkovic, AI Developer & Machine Learning Engineer, ONTEC AI
The solution ensures:
Top-level data quality
Full compliance with EU data protection standards
Secure hosting by ONTEC
The implementation was done in the client’s cloud infrastructure (Azure), focusing on fast deployment, stable operations, and full support tailored to the client’s needs.
At the client’s request, we implemented a customized version of the ONTEC AI Platform solution within their Azure infrastructure. Thanks to the flexible deployment options of the ONTEC AI Platform and our expertise with standard technologies like Kubernetes, the setup was completed quickly. We also support our clients as an Azure partner, handling deployment, monitoring, and incident management of the production system. This provides a worry-free package within the desired infrastructure.
Tamás Molnár, MLOps Engineer, ONTEC AI
This infrastructure allows future scalability and adaptability to changing requirements.
A special challenge: AI aligned with ethical standards
In the medical domain, ethics are paramount. Providing information that affects users’ health and well-being demands great responsibility. Misinformation can have serious consequences.
Data quality and reliability ONTEC AI searches apotheken-umschau.de for relevant sources and formulates source-based answers. This ensures that the information is accurate, up-to-date, and scientifically validated according to Wort & Bild’s quality standards. All information on the site undergoes a medical fact-check. Any form of AI hallucination that could mislead users is avoided.
Data protection and security All data processing complies strictly with European data protection regulations (GDPR). The Azure IT infrastructure ensures the highest security standards to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the data.
Continuous monitoring and improvement The ONTEC AI team continuously monitors the performance and accuracy of the AI system, implementing regular updates and improvements to ensure that ethical standards are consistently met.
Transparency Users are informed about the sources used. This builds trust and allows users to critically evaluate and further research the information.
Ethics and compliance guidelines ONTEC AI was developed with ethical guidelines and compliance requirements in mind. This includes avoiding bias and discrimination and ensuring that the information is equally accessible and understandable for all users.
Clarity and factual accuracy are the foundation of every publication at Wort & Bild Verlag. With ONTEC AI, we have successfully transferred these values into AI integration.
Eric Kubitz, Product Development & Head of AI, Wort & Bild
Results
The implementation of ONTEC AI has significantly improved the user experience on apotheken-umschau.de.
Users now receive precise answers to their medical questions instead of just a list of pages. This saves users a great deal of time and increases satisfaction.
Wort & Bild Verlag has become a pioneer in its field with this project.
With ONTEC AI on apotheken-umschau.de, we’ve created an excellent AI solution. Now, many people can access curated health information much more easily. We’re very proud that our AI helps make life a little easier for so many people.
Tobias Lint, AI Developer, ONTEC AI
Summary and conclusion
The implementation of ONTEC AI at Wort & Bild Verlag demonstrates how advanced technology can enhance the user experience in the healthcare sector.
By combining high data quality, European data protection standards, and an efficient IT infrastructure, a solution was delivered that meets both the client’s requirements and the needs of its users.
