Google removes "What People Suggest" health advice feature
Google shut down its "What People Suggest" feature, which crowdsourced health advice from amateurs globally, citing a broader simplification of its search page. The removal follows mounting scrutiny over AI-generated health information, including a Guardian investigation that found false and misleading health guidance in Google AI Overviews.
What happened
Google dropped its "What People Suggest" feature, an AI search tool designed to provide crowdsourced health advice from amateurs around the world. Karen DeSalvo, then Google's chief health officer, had promoted it at an event in March of the previous year as showing "the potential of AI to transform health outcomes across the globe."
Google said the removal was part of a "broader simplification" of its search page and had "nothing to do with the quality or safety of the new feature," according to a company spokesperson.
Reported impact
The feature removal comes amid mounting scrutiny over Google's use of AI to provide health information to millions. In January, the Guardian reported that Google AI Overviews contained false and misleading health information that put people at risk of harm.
Index analysis
Google AI Overviews are shown to 2 billion people a month and appear above traditional search results on Google Search. The Guardian found people were being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in these AI-generated summaries.
Governance controls
Following the Guardian investigation in January, Google removed AI Overviews for some but not all medical queries, restricting the feature over safety concerns.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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