Olive AI software efficacy, misleading marketing

US health care automation startup Olive AI is laying off 450 employees in a move said by CEO Sean Lane to have been caused by the company's 'fast-paced growth and lack of focus'.

The company, which has gone through various incarnations since it was first founded in 2012 and been valued at USD 4 billion, has been dogged by questions about the efficacy of its software and the integrity of its marketing. 

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One former employee told Axios 'There are hospitals that won’t touch [Olive] because they know people who’ve been burned … And I think people don’t want to admit it; there’s a big sense of shame about it.'

Transparency

Interviews with 16 former and current employees and health tech executives by Axios in April 2022 suggested Olive 'inflates its capabilities and has generated only a fraction of the savings it promises.'

Alongside the July lay-offs, Olive said to would slim its product lines to the core billing automation software that represents 80% of its revenue.