Google quietly kills health search experiment as YouTube gains powerful new AI health tools

Google has removed its "What People Suggest" health search feature and announced new AI health tools for YouTube around its 2026 Check Up event focused on health products. The company also detailed new funding and experiments that use AI for medical information and clinician training.

Key details on Google's health search and YouTube updates

Google confirmed it has removed "What People Suggest" from health search results that surfaced perspectives from online discussions. A spokesperson told The Guardian the change is part of a "broader simplification" of search results pages, and not related to the feature's quality or safety.

• "What People Suggest" used AI to organize health-related perspectives from online discussions, according to earlier Google descriptions.
• The Guardian reported, citing three people familiar with the matter, that the feature was withdrawn after a trial run.
• "What People Suggest" launched on mobile devices in the United States last year at Google's annual Check Up health event.

At the 2026 Check Up event, Google announced an AI-powered "Ask" button for eligible health videos on YouTube. The feature lets viewers submit questions related to the video and interact with the content. Google said health-related videos on YouTube have surpassed one trillion views globally.

Google is also testing AI tools that organize peer-reviewed scientific information and present complex topics to broader audiences. In the same update, Google.org committed $10 million to organizations focused on clinician education for AI. The Council of Medical Specialty Societies and the American Academy of Nursing were named as initial funding partners.

Background on "What People Suggest" and health AI products

"What People Suggest" debuted during last year's Check Up event as part of Google's health search features. Then chief health officer Karen DeSalvo highlighted that many people seek perspectives from others with similar experiences. DeSalvo retired in August and was succeeded by Dr Michael Howell, who led this year's Check Up announcements.

During the same period, Google expanded AI Overviews to thousands of additional health topics. In January, a Guardian investigation reported that some AI Overview responses contained information health experts considered misleading for medical queries. Google disputed parts of the reporting and later removed AI Overviews for some specific health searches, including liver function tests.

External research has documented how often YouTube appears in health-related AI Overviews. A study by SE Ranking on German health queries found YouTube was the most cited domain in results. Ahrefs data from November showed medical YMYL queries triggered AI Overviews 44.1 percent of the time, the highest among YMYL categories.

Source citations

Google detailed its 2026 Check Up announcements in an official blog post on health AI updates.

Additional facts in this article reference reporting by The Guardian and Search Engine Journal on Google's health search features. Data points from SE Ranking and Ahrefs come from studies and datasets those companies have published on search results.