<
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/02/google-ai-overviews-risk-harm-misleading-health-information>
"People are being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health
information in Google’s artificial intelligence summaries, a
Guardian
investigation has found.
The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide
snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and
“reliable”.
But some of the summaries, which appear at the top of search results, served up
inaccurate health information and put people at risk of harm.
In one case that experts described as “really dangerous”, Google wrongly
advised people with pancreatic cancer to avoid high-fat foods. Experts said
this was the exact opposite of what should be recommended, and may increase the
risk of patients dying from the disease.
In another “alarming” example, the company provided bogus information about
crucial liver function tests, which could leave people with serious liver
disease wrongly thinking they are healthy.
Google searches for answers about women’s cancer tests also provided
“completely wrong” information, which experts said could result in people
dismissing genuine symptoms."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
