Google quietly pulls AI Overviews from some health searches, here's why

Google AI

• Google retracted AI Overviews for certain health queries due to accuracy issues.
• Some health searches still show AI summaries; changes aren't fully comprehensive.
• Health advocates warn of broader issues with AI in medical search results

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Google appears to have quietly rolled back AI Overviews for a handful of health-related queries after an investigation by the Guardian found the feature returning potentially misleading information.

The publication reported that searches such as “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” were triggering AI-generated summaries that presented simplified numerical ranges without accounting for critical variables like age, sex, ethnicity or nationality. That kind of context matters in clinical interpretation, and the concern was that users could be falsely reassured that their results were normal when they were not.

Following the report, the Guardian says AI Overviews no longer appear for queries including “what is the normal range for liver blood tests” and “what is the normal range for liver function tests.” However, it also found that closely related searches such as “lft reference range” could still surface AI-generated summaries, suggesting the changes were not comprehensive.

In follow-up testing conducted several hours after the Guardian’s story was published, those queries no longer triggered AI Overviews. In some cases, the top search result was the Guardian article itself. Google Search still offered the option to run the same questions through its separate AI Mode, underlining that AI-driven answers have not been removed entirely from the experience.

Google declined to comment on specific removals. A spokesperson told the Guardian that the company does not discuss individual changes within Search, but said it continuously works to make broad improvements. According to Google, an internal team of clinicians reviewed the highlighted queries and concluded that in many cases the information provided by AI Overviews was not inaccurate and was supported by high-quality sources.

The response has not fully reassured health advocates. Vanessa Hebditch, director of communications and policy at the British Liver Trust, welcomed the removal as “excellent news” but warned that it only addresses a narrow symptom of a larger problem. She said the deeper issue is the use of AI Overviews for health queries at all, rather than the handling of a single result that can simply be switched off.

The episode comes as Google continues to push AI deeper into Search, including healthcare-focused models and improved summaries announced last year. It also highlights a persistent tension at the heart of AI-powered search. While summarisation tools can make information more accessible, medical topics leave little margin for error.