Google has removed its AI Overviews from specific medical search queries after an investigation by The Guardian that discovered the feature offering potentially misleading health related information.
According to the probe, when users browsed for queries such as “what is the normal range for liver blood tests,” Google’s AI Overviews showcased simplified reference ranges that failed to account for several factors, including ethnicity, age, sex, and nationality.
Experts issued warning that this could mislead users to incorrectly assume their test results were normal.
As per The Guardian, AI Overviews no longer appear for searches including “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” and “normal range for liver function tests.”
However, variations such as “LFT reference range” previously continued to trigger AI-generated summaries. As of January 11, some of these queries no longer produced AI Overviews, though Google still offered users the option to ask the question in AI Mode.
A Google spokesperson told The Guardian the company does not comment on individual removals but said it is preparing to bring significant improvements.
Vanessa Hebditch of the British Liver Trust welcomed the removals but cautioned that disabling AI Overviews for specific searches does not acknowledge broader concerns about using AI-generated summaries for health-related information.
However, the Alphabet-owned Google has yet to officially confirm it.
