A Google search feature that presented users with AI-curated health tips drawn from online forum discussions has been discontinued. The tool, named “What People Suggest,” organized community health perspectives using AI and displayed them to users making health-related searches. Three people familiar with the decision confirmed its removal before Google made an official statement.
The product was first shown publicly at Google’s “The Check Up” health event in New York. Karen DeSalvo, then the company’s chief health officer, promoted the feature in a blog post, describing how it would allow users to benefit from the health experiences of others in similar situations. The AI curated online community discussions into themed summaries with links to original content.
Google attributed the removal to a simplification of the search interface and explicitly denied that safety concerns were involved. When the company was asked for evidence of a public announcement, it cited a blog post that made no mention of the discontinued feature. This failure of transparency has drawn substantial criticism.
The removal coincides with a period of significant scrutiny over Google’s AI health content. An earlier investigation found that Google’s AI Overviews were delivering false medical information to billions of users every month. The limited changes Google made in response fell short of satisfying health experts and advocacy groups.
With its next health event scheduled, Google is preparing to make a fresh case for AI’s transformative potential in healthcare. But the lesson from “What People Suggest” is clear: deploying AI in health contexts requires rigorous safety standards, transparent communication, and genuine accountability when things go wrong. Google has not yet fully met that bar.