Google’s AI Overviews can surface misleading health advice, risking patient harm, an investigation by The Guardian investigation has revealed.
The AI-generated summaries sit at the top of search results and are meant to offer quick answers to users’ questions.
In one example described as “really dangerous” by experts, the AI wrongly told people with pancreatic cancer, a cancer affecting the pancreas which helps digestion, to avoid high-fat foods.
Specialists said this was the opposite of standard advice and could increase the risk of patients dying from the disease.
Anna Jewell, director of support, research and influencing at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: “The Google AI response suggests that people with pancreatic cancer avoid high-fat foods and provides a list of examples.
“However, if someone followed what the search result told them then they might not take in enough calories, struggle to put on weight, and be unable to tolerate either chemotherapy or potentially life-saving surgery.”
More inaccuracies were found in searches about liver function tests, blood tests that measure markers linked to liver health and possible damage.
The AI offered results with little context and did not account for factors such as nationality, sex, ethnicity or age.
Pamela Healy, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, described the summaries as “alarming”, warning that people with serious liver disease may wrongly believe they have normal results and fail to attend follow-up appointments.
A search for vaginal cancer symptoms incorrectly listed a pap test, also known as a cervical smear test, which screens for cervical rather than vaginal cancer, as a relevant diagnostic tool.
Sophie Randall, director of the Patient Information Forum, said the examples showed “Google’s AI Overviews can put inaccurate health information at the top of online searches, presenting a risk to people’s health”.
A Google spokesperson said many of the examples shared were “incomplete screenshots” but that from what they could assess, the summaries linked “to well-known, reputable sources and recommend seeking out expert advice”.
