Google pulls AI summaries from some medical searches

Google has removed AI-generated summaries, known as AI Overviews, from search results for some health-related queries following an investigation by The Guardian that found misleading information being provided to users.

According to the newspaper, Google AI Overviews previously gave incomplete or potentially misleading answers to certain medical questions. One example cited was the query “what is the normal range for liver blood tests,” which returned figures that did not account for factors such as nationality, sex, ethnicity, or age. The paper said this could lead users to believe their test results were normal when they were not.

AI Overviews no longer appear for queries such as “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” and “what is the normal range for liver function tests.” However, the newspaper found that similar searches, including “lft reference range” and “lft test reference range,” could still trigger AI-generated summaries.

After the newspaper published its report, searches for those queries no longer showed AI Overviews, although Google continued to offer users the option to run the same search in AI Mode.

A Google spokesperson told the newspaper that the company does not “comment on individual removals within Search,” but said it works to “make broad improvements.” The spokesperson added that an internal team of clinicians reviewed the queries highlighted in the investigation and found that “in many instances, the information was not inaccurate and was also supported by high-quality websites.”

Last year, Google announced new features intended to improve Search for healthcare-related queries, including enhanced AI Overviews and health-focused AI models.

Vanessa Hebditch, director of communications and policy at the British Liver Trust, welcomed the move but raised wider concerns. “The removal is excellent news,” she added, “Our bigger concern with all this is that it is nit-picking a single search result and Google can just shut off the AI Overviews for that but it’s not tackling the bigger issue of AI Overviews for health.”