Google has axed a short-lived search feature that presented users with health advice from internet strangers, organized by artificial intelligence. “What People Suggest” was designed to supplement expert health content with community-sourced perspectives but was quietly removed after a brief operational life. Three insiders confirmed the removal before Google acknowledged it.
The feature was announced at Google’s annual health conference in New York, where then-chief health officer Karen DeSalvo described it as a positive step in humanizing health search. She wrote that users want to hear from others who have faced similar health challenges, not just from medical professionals. The AI-organized community content was initially deployed to mobile users in the United States.
Google denied that safety was a consideration in the removal, attributing it instead to search page simplification. When asked to show where this was publicly communicated, the company referenced a blog post that made no mention of “What People Suggest.” The inconsistency has been widely criticized.
The story is set against a backdrop of an investigation that found Google’s AI Overviews were distributing false medical information to approximately two billion users monthly. Google made limited adjustments in response, though health professionals described the measures as insufficient.
With another “The Check Up” event scheduled, the company will once again present a vision of responsible health AI. The memory of “What People Suggest” — launched with ambition, retired in silence — will add a useful layer of scrutiny to those announcements. Responsible health AI means being honest about what has not worked just as much as it means celebrating what has.