The Untold Story of How Google’s AI Amateur Health Feature Was Quietly Axed

Months passed between the removal of Google’s AI health feature and any public acknowledgment of the fact, raising questions about accountability in the company’s health AI operations. “What People Suggest” organized health advice from internet users using AI and presented it in search results, but was quietly discontinued. Three insiders confirmed the removal before Google addressed the matter publicly.
Google introduced the feature at its “The Check Up” health event in New York, where then-chief health officer Karen DeSalvo championed it as a forward-thinking approach to health search. She wrote that users benefit from peer health experiences alongside expert information, and the tool was designed to deliver exactly that. The AI curated community health discussions into organized themes for user consumption.
Google denied that safety played a role in removing the feature, attributing the decision to search simplification. The cited blog post offered as public notice made no reference to the discontinued feature, however, and critics have described the company’s communication as inadequate. “It’s dead,” one insider confirmed plainly.
The episode sits within a broader controversy over Google’s AI health content. An investigation earlier this year documented how AI Overviews were distributing false medical information to roughly two billion monthly users. Google’s limited response to that investigation — removing AI Overviews from some health searches — fell short of what health professionals called for.
Google is preparing to hold another edition of “The Check Up,” where new AI health innovations will be announced. The company’s credibility in this domain will hinge not only on the quality of those innovations but also on whether Google can demonstrate a meaningful shift toward transparency and accountability in how it manages its health AI products.