Following an investigation that found Google AI Overviews offering misleading information in response to certain health-related queries, the company appears to have removed the AI Overviews for some of those specific searches.
The investigation initially reported that when users asked “what is the normal range for liver blood tests,” they would be presented with numbers that did not account for critical factors such as nationality, sex, ethnicity, or age. This could potentially lead someone to incorrectly believe their results were healthy when they were not.
It was later reported that AI Overviews have been removed from the search results for queries like “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” and “what is the normal range for liver function tests.” However, the investigation found that variations on those queries, such as “lft reference range,” could still trigger AI-generated summaries.
When tested several hours after the report was published, those queries no longer resulted in AI Overviews, though Google still provided the option to ask the same query in a dedicated AI mode. In several cases, the top search result was actually the article about the removal itself.
A Google spokesperson stated that the company does not comment on individual removals within Search, but that it works to make broad improvements. The spokesperson also said an internal team of clinicians reviewed the queries highlighted and found that in many instances, the information was not inaccurate and was supported by high quality websites.
Last year, the company announced new features aimed at improving Google Search for healthcare use cases, including improved overviews and health-focused AI models.
Vanessa Hebditch, the director of communications and policy at the British Liver Trust, said the removal is excellent news. She added, however, that the bigger concern is that this addresses a single search result and Google can just shut off the AI Overviews for that, but it is not tackling the larger issue of AI Overviews for health information in general.