Google scraps What People Suggest tool that pulled AI health advice from Reddit and online forums

Google quietly removes AI-powered health search tool that surfaced medical advice from online forums

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. What just happened? Google has quietly dropped an AI-powered search feature called What People Suggest, which offered crowdsourced health advice from people who share similar medical conditions or experiences. The company insists that the decision has nothing to do with the safety or quality of the tool, despite the controversies that often come from combining AI and healthcare. Launched in March 2025 on mobile in the US, What People Suggest leveraged AI to collate information from various online discussion platforms, such as Reddit, Quora, and X, and share it with users. An example Google gave was someone with arthritis wanting to know how others with the condition exercise. Google said the feature showed "the potential of AI to transform health outcomes across the globe." The tech giant confirmed that What People Suggest has been removed. A spokesperson emphasized that it had nothing to do with the quality or safety of the feature, but was part of a "broader simplification" of its search page. Google has been very quiet when it comes to revealing the removal of What People Suggest. The spokesperson said it was killed off months ago, and that news of efforts to simplify the search results page was shared publicly. When The Guardian asked where this was shared, the spokesperson pointed to a post from November last year written by John Mueller, a search advocate at Google Switzerland. There is no mention of What People Suggest in the post. Google is no stranger to controversy when it comes to AI and medical advice. In January, the company removed several of its AI Overviews following a report that found inaccurate information was being shown to users that could put their health at risk. One example was the AI Overviews advising people with pancreatic cancer to avoid high-fat foods. Experts say this is exactly the opposite of what should be recommended, and may increase the patient's risk of death. The summaries also showed incorrect information about crucial liver function tests, which could leave people with serious liver disease wrongly thinking they are healthy. Answers for women's cancer tests showed the wrong information, too, which experts say could cause people to dismiss serious symptoms.

Google is finally killing its search tool that treated Reddit like a doctor

Google claims the removal is about simplifying Search, not safety issues. Google is stepping back from a controversial AI Search feature that tried to gather medical advice from internet amateurs. If you've searched your symptoms recently, you may have seen a test widget that collected health tips from forums and social media. As of today, that experiment is over. The Guardian reports that Google has quietly ended its "What People Suggest" feature, an AI search tool that showed health tips and stories from everyday users across the internet. While the idea seemed useful at first, it raised an important question: should a search engine summarize medical advice from strangers? The feature aimed to give quick, easy-to-read insights from people with similar health issues. It's easy to see why that might be appealing. Instead of searching through forums, you'd get a summary right away. The problem was that these insights didn't come from medical professionals. They were taken from user discussions online. Google has been under growing pressure over how its AI handles medical information. Earlier investigations found its AI Overviews sometimes delivered misleading or even risky health advice. In some cases, the guidance lacked key context or contradicted established medical recommendations. Even when the information wasn't completely wrong, critics said it could still be risky. Health advice is more than just facts. Things like age, medical history, and other details matter, and AI doesn't always understand those differences. On top of that, disclaimers warning users to consult professionals weren't always front and center, which made the AI responses feel more authoritative than they should. So when Google launched a feature based on advice from non-experts, it didn't help ease those worries. Google says the removal wasn't about safety or accuracy. Instead, the company frames it as part of a broader effort to simplify the search experience. That explanation seems a little too convenient, especially now. The feature disappeared just as people are paying more attention to AI health content and a few months after the search giant ditched AI Overviews for liver test queries, which were found to give incorrect medical advice. For now, AI will no longer summarize crowd-sourced medical advice in Google Search, and that's likely for the best. You can still find personal stories in forums and online communities, but you'll need to look for them yourself. When it comes to health, taking your time and being careful is better than getting quick but possibly misleading advice.

Google is finally cutting its AI medical advice feature

Google has been hard-pushing its AI overview feature since early 2024, even going so far as to replace the longstanding word definitions feature with AI-generated summaries. However, Google is rolling back one AI Overview feature, which hasn't sat well with Google users. Google's AI Medical Advice summarization tool is no more Google is now stepping back from its controversial AI search feature that would attempt to gather medical advice from across the web. Essentially, if you have searched for your symptoms recently (because let's be honest, who hasn't done that before), you may have noticed a new test widget that collects health tips from both forums and social media. Well, that experiment is now over. According to The Guardian, Google has quietly ended the "What People Suggest" feature, which was an AI search tool that showed health tips and processes from everyday users across the internet. As Engadget noted, the idea seemed useful at first, but it raised the question of whether a search engine should summarize medical advice from total strangers. The feature aimed to provide quick, easy-to-read insights from people with similar health issues -- which could be beneficial for those with less common medical issues -- but these insights came from online user discussions, which was a bit of a problem. Recently, Google has been under increasing pressure over how its AI system handles medical information. Earlier investigations have found that AI Overviews sometimes deliver misleading or even risky health advice. In some cases, the suggestions provided were missing key context or were contradicting established medical recommendations. Even if the information is correct, critics note that it could still be risky. One thing that AI still doesn't always understand is that contextual information, such as age, medical history, and other details, matters when it comes to health advice. To add to that, disclaimers warning users to consult medical professionals weren't always front and center, which, to some, made the AI responses feel more authoritative than they should have. Subscribe for deeper newsletter coverage on AI and search Curious about the implications of AI in search? Subscribe to our newsletter for in-depth coverage that explains why removing crowd-sourced medical summaries matters and provides clear context on AI's role in handling health information. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. Google has stated that the removal wasn't about the feature's accuracy, but rather as part of a broader effort to simplify the search experience. For now, AI will no longer summarize crowd-sourced medical advice within Google Search. You can still look for it yourself and track down all of the personal stories, but it will be at your own discretion.

Google scraps 'What people suggest' feature that pulled health tips from Reddit using AI

Google has pulled the plug on a "What people suggest" feature in Search that would use AI to summarize health tips from real users on Reddit and other communities online. Launched in early 2025, "What people suggest" arrived as a way for Google Search to include not just traditional search results for queries such as "Why does my leg hurt?," but also suggestions from real people. The idea, as Google pitched it at the time, was to "organize different perspectives from online discussions into easy-to-understand themes, helping you quickly grasp what people are saying" with the help of AI. The feature would largely source information from Reddit, Twitter/X, Quora, and other online forums. This feature was turned down months ago as part of a broader simplification of the search results page, which we shared publicly. The "public" sharing of this was a brief post from November 2025 where Google explained that it had "identified some features that aren't being used very often and aren't adding significant value to users... So we're beginning to phase these lesser-used features out." That post never speciifcally outlined that "What people suggest" would be included in the removals. A spokesperson further added that the removal of "What people suggest" was not due to quality or safety, apparently: ...It had nothing to do with the quality or safety of the feature, and we continue to help people find reliable health information from a range of sources, including forums with first-person perspectives that people find incredibly useful. This comes after prior reports found that AI Overviews were spitting out misleading health advice, to which Google seemingly disabled AI results on certain health-related queries.

Google scraps AI search feature that crowdsourced amateur medical advice

Exclusive: revelation comes as company faces mounting scrutiny over use of AI to provide health tips Google has dropped a new artificial intelligence search feature that gave users crowdsourced health advice from amateurs around the world. The company had said its launch of "What People Suggest", which provided tips from strangers, showed "the potential of AI to transform health outcomes across the globe". But Google has since quietly removed the feature, according to three people familiar with the decision. A Google spokesperson confirmed "What People Suggest" had been scrapped. The move came as part of a "broader simplification" of its search page and had nothing to do with the quality or safety of the new feature, the spokesperson said. The revelation comes as the company faces mounting scrutiny over its use of AI to provide millions of users with health information and advice. In January, a Guardian investigation found people were being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in Google AI Overviews. The AI-generated summaries are shown to 2 billion people a month, and appear above traditional search results on the world's most visited website. Google initially sought to downplay the Guardian's findings. The AI Overviews that alarmed independent experts linked to reputable sources and recommended seeking expert advice, the company said. Days later, Google removed AI Overviews for some but not all medical queries. In March last year at an event in New York, Google said it planned to expand medical-related AI summaries in search. The company said it was adding a new feature, "What People Suggest", which aimed to provide users with information from people with similar lived medical experiences. On the day of "The Check Up" event, Karen DeSalvo, then Google's chief health officer, wrote a blog post outlining why the company was launching the new feature, and how it would help users. "While people come to search to find reliable medical information from experts, they also value hearing from others who have similar experiences," wrote DeSalvo. "That's why we're making it even easier to find this type of information on Search with a new feature labelled 'What People Suggest'. "Using AI, we're able to organize different perspectives from online discussions into easy-to-understand themes, helping you quickly grasp what people are saying. 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." The feature was initially made available on mobile devices in the US. Three people said "What People Suggest" had since been dropped. "It's dead," said one person familiar with the decision. A Google spokesperson said: "This feature was turned down months ago as part of a broader simplification of the search results page, which we shared publicly." When the Guardian asked where the news was "shared publicly", the spokesperson pointed to a blog post from November last year written by John Mueller, a search advocate at Google Switzerland. The post makes no mention of "What People Suggest". Asked whether safety was a factor in the decision to scrap "What People Suggest", the spokesperson said: "It had nothing to do with the quality or safety of the feature, and we continue to help people find reliable health information from a range of sources, including forums with first-person perspectives that people find incredibly useful." Google's next "The Check Up" event is on Tuesday. Chief health officer Michael Howell and other company staff will "share how we're bringing together new AI research, technological innovations and partnerships to help address some of the world's most pressing health challenges".