Google’s AI health experiment hit a nerve
After a Guardian investigation flagged potentially misleading health answers in Google AI Overviews, the company appears to have removed those summaries for some medical search queries.
The Guardian found that searches like “normal range for liver blood tests” showed generic figures that didn’t account for age, sex, ethnicity, or nationality.
This could lead users to think their results were normal when they weren’t.
Since then, AI Overviews no longer appear for that query or for “normal range for liver function tests.”
Some similar searches were still producing AI summaries at the time of reporting.
When the same queries were tested later, AI Overviews no longer appeared.
In several cases, the top result linked directly to the Guardian’s reporting. Google still offered users the option to run the search in its separate AI Mode.
At a glance:
Some health-related AI Overviews have been removed after scrutiny
Results can still vary depending on how a query is phrased
Experts say broader safeguards for health searches remain a concern
This isn’t a typo issue
A Google spokesperson said the company does not comment on individual Search removals but is focused on making broader improvements.
They added that internal clinicians reviewed the highlighted queries and found that, in many cases, the information was supported by high-quality sources.
The move follows Google’s recent healthcare-focused updates to Search, including revised AI Overviews and specialised health models.
Vanessa Hebditch from the British Liver Trust welcomed the removals but said they don’t address wider concerns about AI-generated summaries being used for health searches more broadly.
AI Mode is still there, it just put on a hoodie and stepped back. - MG