Google has removed AI generated Overviews from certain health related search queries after an investigation by the Guardian found that the feature was providing potentially misleading medical information.
What Triggered The Changes
The Guardian reported that users asking questions such as “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” were shown figures that did not take into account factors such as nationality, sex, ethnicity, or age. The newspaper said this could lead some people to believe their results were within a healthy range when they were not.
After the report was published, the Guardian said that AI Overviews were no longer appearing for searches including “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” and “what is the normal range for liver function tests.” It also found that related queries such as “lft reference range” could still trigger AI generated summaries.
Several hours after the Guardian’s story appeared, those same queries did not show AI Overviews, although Google Search continued to offer users the option to run the query in AI Mode. In multiple cases, the top result was the Guardian article about the changes.
Google And Expert Responses
A Google spokesperson told the Guardian that the company does not comment on individual removals within Search and said it focuses on making broad improvements. The spokesperson added that clinicians reviewed the queries highlighted by the newspaper and found that in many cases the information was not inaccurate and was supported by high quality websites.
Vanessa Hebditch, director of communications and policy at the British Liver Trust, told the Guardian that the removal was welcome but said the wider issue of AI Overviews being used for health searches remains unresolved.
Google said last year that it introduced new features aimed at improving Search for healthcare use, including updated Overviews and health focused AI models.
Featured image credits: Newman Web Solutions
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.