Google is backtracking on its decision to use AI Overviews in some medical inquiries.

 

Google 

Google is backtracking on its decision to use AI Overviews in some medical inquiries.

Google has removed its AI-powered summaries feature from search results for some medical queries, following a Guardian investigation that revealed it was providing potentially misleading health information to users.

The investigation indicated that Google, when searching for "normal range for liver blood tests," displayed general figures that did not take into account essential factors such as age, gender, race, or geographical background, which may lead some users to believe that their results are normal even though they may not be medically so.

According to The Guardian, AI summaries have already disappeared from search results for phrases such as "What is the normal range for liver scans" and "What is the normal range for liver function tests".

However, the newspaper pointed out that other similar formats, such as "LFT reference range", had previously still displayed AI-generated summaries.

In a subsequent test conducted hours after the report was published, none of these inquiries appeared in the AI ​​Overviews summaries, although Google still offered the option to ask the question via "AI Mode".

In a number of cases, the Guardian report itself topped the research findings.

A Google spokesperson told the newspaper that the company does not comment on individual removals within the search engine, while confirming that it is working on overall improvements.

He added that an internal team of doctors reviewed the inquiries that were raised and concluded 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 Foundation, welcomed the move, calling it "excellent news," but warned that the problem runs deeper, saying that focusing on specific research findings does not address the larger issue of using AI summaries in health content.

It is worth noting that Google announced last year new features to improve the use of the search engine in health fields, including the development of specialized artificial intelligence models and improving the way medical information is displayed, in an effort to enhance accuracy and reliability.