Google unveils AI-powered search feature to summarise online health discussions

The What People Suggest feature will use AI to “organise different perspectives from online discussions into easy-to-understand themes. For example, a person dealing with arthritis might want to know how others with this condition exercise. With this feature, they can quickly uncover real insights from people who also have the condition, with links to click out and learn more,” Google said.

The company also said that it has updated the knowledge panels that appear to the right of search results on Google Search. These information boxes now cover “thousands” more health topics with support for languages such as Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese.

In addition, Google said that its AI Overviews has also been improved to provide AI-generated summaries in response to health-related queries such as “How do I know if I have the flu?”

However, experts have warned users against relying on AI-generated answers for accurate health information. Over 70 per cent of Google’s AI Overviews for more than 200 health-related searches were considered risky by a panel of medical experts, according to a study by The Senior List in 2024.

Other health-focused efforts

Google has announced several AI health-care initiatives in recent years. “With extraordinary advances in AI, we have an opportunity to reimagine the entire health experience,” Dr Karen DeSalvo, the chief health officer of Google, was quoted as saying by CNBC.

In 2023, Google introduced a suite of AI models called MedLM designed to help clinicians and researchers with AI-generated summaries of doctor-patient interactions and aid in other complex tasks. Last year, the company released Vertex AI Search for Healthcare which can be used by developers to build AI apps that help healthcare workers quickly surface information within vast medical databases.