Google removes AI Overviews for some health queries
Google removed AI Overviews from search results for specific liver blood test queries after a Guardian investigation revealed misleading health information that ignored key factors.
The Guardian examined Google AI Overviews and identified instances where responses to health-related queries contained inaccuracies. In one case, searching for “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” produced numbers that failed to consider variables such as nationality, sex, ethnicity, or age. This omission could cause users to misinterpret their test results as healthy even if they indicated potential issues.
Following publication of the investigation, the Guardian reported that AI Overviews no longer appear in results for “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” and “what is the normal range for liver function tests.” Prior to the story, these queries triggered AI-generated summaries directly in search results.
Variations of the queries, including “lft reference range” and “lft test reference range,” initially generated AI summaries as well. LFT stands for liver function tests, a common abbreviation in medical contexts. These alternative phrasings still activated the feature before the Guardian’s article went live.
Several hours after the Guardian published its story, tests of those variation queries showed no AI Overviews. Google continued to offer an AI Mode option for users to pursue the same queries through a separate interface. In multiple instances, the top search result became the Guardian’s article detailing the removal.
A Google spokesperson stated to the Guardian that the company does not “comment on individual removals within Search,” but emphasized ongoing efforts to “make broad improvements.” The spokesperson added that an internal team of clinicians reviewed the highlighted queries.
That clinical team determined that “in many instances, the information was not inaccurate and was also supported by high‑quality websites.” This assessment covered the specific health queries raised in the Guardian’s reporting.
TechCrunch contacted Google separately for additional comment on the removals and related developments.
In the previous year, Google introduced features to enhance healthcare-related searches. These included improved overviews tailored for medical use cases and dedicated health-focused AI models designed to provide more reliable information in that domain.
Vanessa Hebditch, director of communications and policy at the British Liver Trust, described the removal as “excellent news.” She continued, “Our bigger concern with all this is that it is nit‑picking a single search result and Google can just shut off the AI Overviews for that but it’s not tackling the bigger issue of AI Overviews for health.”